Mars Rover Discovers Rock With Zinc, NASA Overjoyed

Giddiness and excitement swept over NASA scientists Thursday after a small rover discovered a rock on Mars that could suggest life on the red planet, reports The New York Times.

Opportunity, NASA's small exploratory rover treaded over Mars' 13.6 mile wide crater called Endeavor in early August, reports the Telegraph.

Mission scientists have described the rock as "full of zinc and bromine, elements that, at least for rocks on Earth, would be suggestive of geology formed with heat and water," reports The Age. Zinc is often found in rocks that have been exposed to water.

Though the rover has roamed Mars' terrain on and off since 2004, never has it come across such samples of this kind.

"The excitement level within the engineering and science teams is way up," rover scientist Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St Louis, Missouri told The New Scientist.

But Opportunity isn't exactly in tip top shape. According to The New York Times, the golf cart sized rover has driven 20 miles even though it was designed to travel just two thirds of a mile and has a stuck robotic arm.

The discovery comes just months after NASA said goodbye to Spirit, Opportunity's identical rover counterpart. Spirit went silent after a sand trap last year.

Opportunity and Spirit already found evidence of liquid water that suggests life might have been possible on ancient Mars, but that water was highly acidic.

The lone rover will soon be getting company. NASA is set to launch Curiosity, a mobile laboratory in November, which won't arrive on Mars until summer 2012.

LOOK:

Correction: This article previously stated Curiosity would land on Endeavor in summer 2012. Instead, Curiosity will arrive on Mars, not Endeavor, in Summer 2012. This has now been updated to reflect that correction.

Comments

[onionboy]

06:43 PM on 09/06/2011

Mars...now with zinc.

[lcurtis1160]

01:53 PM on 09/06/2011

Imagine that. finding a rock...

[unclejessie77]

10:56 AM on 09/06/2011

Once NASA determines there are enough natural resources for the private sector to exploit, Mars exploration will boom.

That's right private sector, let Government do the dirty work for you.

[WthyrBendragon]

12:22 PM on 09/06/2011

We have to fix the cost of getting there and back first. We need a massive boom in discovery/development of new propulsion systems to literally get more bang for the buck.

[WthyrBendragon]

10:56 AM on 09/06/2011

Alas, when Curiosity arrives on Mars there will be great disappointment because on Mars there are no cats for Curiosity to kill.

[GEM-592]

10:07 PM on 09/05/2011

NASA excited ... yeah they'll do that from time to time.

[onasphere]

08:51 PM on 09/05/2011

I'm all for space exploration as long as we don't try to send people. Robots are amazingly effective, relatively cheap, and don't mind a one way trip. I think it's funny that it all has to be about finding water, or signs of water. Someday, the spores that we send on those robots may involve into life that looks for signs of water on a dead rock formerly called "Earth".

[WthyrBendragon]

12:29 PM on 09/06/2011

Water can be important for automatons also. It's remarkably flexible for use in fuel, power generation systems, lubricants and cleansers. If you can mine and refine on site you can power your research mission a LOT longer.

[onasphere]

11:54 PM on 09/06/2011

Those Mars rovers haven't needed any water. Amazing critters. Wish I could get a cordless drill made by the same folks. Mine just took a dump yesterday.

[Gurinder Dhillon]

02:59 AM on 09/05/2011

In all of its infinite wisdom, Congress pulled the plug on any meaningful possible future funding for NASA with the passage of the last debt deal, with that simple act Congress successfully privatized space for the defense and aerospace industries, which idea made you more comfortable, a government run agency making discoveries in the cosmos or a profit driven corporation.

[Mitch Craft]

01:54 PM on 09/05/2011

I had a nightmare once were Disney bought the moon and erected two huge ears on it. Woke up screaming!

[2riv1dra]

02:34 PM on 09/06/2011

Sounds like a fairly accurate premonition to me. I can't wait to visit the moon based Disney theme park.

[edenooch]

01:47 AM on 09/05/2011

when they are done playing with their toys in the red sand....Can they get back to colonizing the moon.

[SouthStJo]

04:08 AM on 09/05/2011

Colonizing the moon? Frankly, with current technology, dont expect that to happen in our lifetimes. There are a lot of serious technical issues.

*I'm not happy about that, but C'est la vie

[MichaelMcKLA]

11:07 PM on 09/04/2011

Good work, NASA! :)

[pablitop]

10:47 PM on 09/04/2011

They would probably find a Sarah Palin there going rogue........

[lindayb]

06:32 AM on 09/04/2011

I used to be a Martian in a prior life....

[spacechampion]

10:09 AM on 09/04/2011

I will be one in a future life.

[frank day]

01:00 PM on 09/04/2011

I'm one now.

[helioszephyr]

03:59 PM on 09/04/2011

How many remember "My Favorite Martian"? Dating ourselves a bit here!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RXiJUUKPfo

[onasphere]

08:52 PM on 09/05/2011

Oh yes.

[DTree]

10:14 PM on 09/03/2011

I am so proud of this little rover - it is a testament to American engineering and our vision to explore the unknown. At a time when education is being cut and government R&D programs are being shut, its discoveries like this that should remind us what we should be striving for.

[edfou5]

05:56 PM on 09/04/2011

"I am so proud of this little rover - it is a testament to American engineerin­g and our vision to explore the unknown."

You're SO right. For JPL to create a rover design and see those rovers function for over 30 times their projected life span is a REMARKABLE achievement - as are the many craft orbiting Saturn http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/photos/ and Jupiter and headed farther out.

The men and women of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are genuine heroes. Too bad the media obsessed with baby bumps and what Rhianna wore last night fail to show average Americans the real "stars" amongst us.

[satorii1s]

10:06 PM on 09/03/2011

Nothing like it has been found before.
Rock was found in a crater, crater was maybe created by the impact of a Comet with both ice and mineral content (explaining creation of Zinc since both ice and heat were present). Cometary ice evaporated leaving mineral deposit(s). I would want more information on what formed the crater before I would claim the Zinc originated on Mars. If they have that information it should be included in the story, if not then its just a way to keep their funding since NASA was axed.

[Quint Michael Long]

12:37 AM on 09/04/2011

I see where your coming from but unless it is throughout the crater and surrounding debrie (sorry on the spelling if it is wrong) only, then I wouldnt think it is just a phenomenon where it was deposited by a comet. I do agree that they should really try and gather more information about it. But you also have to remember that it has only driven 20 miles, and thats like going from a house across the county to a relatives house. Its not a large distance, so there could be other samples just like this one outside of a crater on another part of the planet. And just to clarify, the article didn't say that zinc origionated on Mars.

[satorii1s]

11:33 PM on 09/04/2011

You make a valid points. It may not have said word for word "originated on Mars" but they are not talking about it as if it originated "off-planet" either. And an impact of a Comet is not an Impact of an Iron Ore Meteor. The Tungusta Explosion was a comet that left almost no trace of itself. The rock in the picture looks very much like poured cement as if it was subjected to great heat or placed there in an almost molten state, assuming that is a picture of the zinc containing rock in question" does not specify that either. And the rover discovered it traversing a crater, not outside it, this also increases the chances of it origination from an impact, either uncovering it or depositing it. This story screams zinc rock from planet not from impact without any reason why, and that's why I questioned it. -Peace

[satorii1s]

11:34 PM on 09/04/2011

I mean Tunguska Explosion in 1908 (Sorry I spelled it wrong in my post)

[ALipschitz]

06:13 PM on 09/03/2011

Big Bang ... yadda yadda yadda ... pants.

[Nic the wonder puppy]

05:56 PM on 09/03/2011

Did they find my bone?

[poppahymen]

08:59 AM on 09/04/2011

meow

[Nic the wonder puppy]

09:49 AM on 09/04/2011

ruff