- Original Caption Released with Image:
-
NASA's Mars Rover Spirit has been analyzing sulfur-rich rocks and surface
materials in the "Columbia Hills" in Gusev Crater on Mars. This image of
a very soft, nodular, layered rock nicknamed "Peace" in honor of Martin
Luther King Jr. shows a 4.5-centimeter-wide (1.8-inch-wide) hole Spirit
ground into the surface with the rover's rock abrasion tool. The high
sulfur content of the rock measured by Spirit's alpha particle X-ray
spectrometer and its softness measured by the abrasion tool are probably
evidence of past alteration by water. Spirit's panoramic camera took this
false-color image on martian day, or sol, 381 (Jan. 27, 2005), using
Pancam filters at wavelengths of 750, 530, and 430 nanometers. Darker red
hues in the image correspond to greater concentrations of oxidized soil
and dust. Bluer hues correspond to sulfur-rich rock excavated or exposed
by the abrasion tool and not as heavily coated with soils or not as highly
oxidized.
- Image Credit:
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NASA/JPL/Cornell
Image Addition Date:
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2005-03-07
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