Attorney General Eric Holder says four American citizens have …
An image provided by NASA shows the robotic arm of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity with the first rock touched by an instrument on the arm. (AP Photo/NASA)
Law enforcement officials say a man was shot while he was being…
Advertisement
Mars rover's peek at rock turns up a curiosity
A bit more unusual than expected
Updated: Friday, 12 Oct 2012, 7:24 AM EDT
Published : Friday, 12 Oct 2012, 7:24 AM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — The first rock nuzzled by NASA's Mars Curiosity rover is turning out to be a bit more unusual than scientists thought it would be.
Curiosity used its robot arm to touch at a football-sized pyramid-shaped rock for the first time two weeks ago. It also shot the rock dozens of times with a laser.
The results surprised scientists. They said Thursday that it is not like other rocks seen on Mars. It has more sodium and potassium.
Scientist Edward Stolper said the rock is more like rare volcanic rocks seen on Earth in places like Hawaii. Those rocks are formed under high pressure, deep underground and once contained water.
Scientists don't know how old the Martian rock is.
___
Online:
Mission page: http://www.nasa.gov/msl
Comments WLFI.com is migrating to a more stable commenting system called DISQUS. This system is used by CNN, TIME, FOX News, numerous blogging sites and has over 75 Million registered users. Unfortunately we can't migrate our current user accounts to this new system.
To sign up for a DISQUS account, click the DISQUS button just below and to the right and then click Login.
DISQUS lets you login with several different options, including Facebook, Google, Twitter, Yahoo or OpenID. We expect it to allow more conversation and better moderation. If you have any questions, please feel free to comment below.
Email This
Print This
View Story on a Single PageAdvertisement
Advertisement