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PIA18885: Clues to Wet History in Texture of a Martian Rock
This close-up view of a target rock called 'Last Chance' was acquired by NASA's Mars rover Opportunity on March 3, 2004 of Opportunity's work on Mars. The embedded spherules evident in this image were nicknamed 'blueberries.'
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Exploration Rover (MER) 
 Spacecraft:  Opportunity
 Instrument:  Microscopic Imager 
 Product Size:  1760 x 1069 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  Cornell University 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA18885.tif (1.884 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA18885.jpg (198.2 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:

This close-up view of a target rock called "Last Chance" was acquired by the microscopic imager on the arm of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity on March 3, 2004, during the 39th Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's work on Mars. The area covered in the view is about 2 inches (5 centimeters) across.

The embedded spherules evident in this image reminded researchers of berries in a muffin, so they were nicknamed "blueberries." These mineral concretions and other textures in this rock provided evidence about wet environmental conditions in the ancient past at Opportunity's landing site in the Meridiani Planum region.

JPL manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information about Spirit and Opportunity, visit http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./USGS

Image Addition Date:
2014-11-18