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PIA05594: Merry-Go-Round
Dubbed 'Carousel,' the rock in this image was the target of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity science team's outcrop 'scuff test.' Left shows the rock pre-scuff. Opportunity slowly rotated its left front wheel on the rock, abrading it.
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Exploration Rover (MER) 
 Spacecraft:  Opportunity
 Instrument:  Navigation Camera 
 Product Size:  4800 x 2406 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  JPL 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA05594.tif (5.231 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA05594.jpg (482 kB)  

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:
Dubbed "Carousel," the rock in this image was the target of the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity science team's outcrop "scuff test." The image on the left, taken by the rover's navigation camera on sol 48 of the mission (March 12, 2004), shows the rock pre-scuff. On sol 51 (March 15, 2004), Opportunity slowly rotated its left front wheel on the rock, abrading it in the same way that geology students use a scratch test to determine the hardness of minerals. The image on the right, taken by the rover's navigation camera on sol 51, shows the rock post-scuff. In this image, it is apparent that Opportunity scratched the surface of "Carousel" and deposited dirt that it was carrying in its wheel rims.
Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Cornell/Washington University (St. Louis)

Image Addition Date:
2004-03-19