NASA's Mars rover photographs metallic object that collided with the surface

NASA's Curiosity rover has stumbled across a metallic object that crashed into the surface of Mars. The rover has snapped photos of the discovery.

NASA's Mars rover photographs metallic object that collided with the surface
Comment IconFacebook IconX IconReddit Icon
Junior Editor
Published
Updated
1 minute & 30 seconds read time

NASA's car-sized Mars rover named Curiosity has stumbled across an iron-nickel meteorite while exploring a region of Mars.

Cacao

Cacao

NASA has taken to its social channel and explained in a blog post on the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory website that the Curiosity rover found the iron-nickel meteorite on January 28, 2023, in a region around Mount Sharp, a large mountain located in the Gale crater. NASA has written on the Curiosity rover Twitter account that it's not "uncommon to find meteorites on Mars" and that this isn't the first discovery by Curiosity. In 2016 the rover discovered a meteorite now called "Egg Rock", or the golf ball.

As for the meteorite that Curiosity most recently found, NASA writes that its approximately 1 foot wide and has been named Cacao. The space agency explains that Curiosity snapped a panorama with its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, which features a 100-millimeter focal length lens. The panorama consists of 19 individual images that are then stitched together to form the above image. This image is then color corrected to "match lighting conditions as the human eye would perceive them on Earth," writes NASA.

"Egg Rock" Golf Ball meteorite discovered on 11/2/16

"Egg Rock" Golf Ball meteorite discovered on 11/2/16

7-foot-long meteorite "Lebanon" 7/15/14

7-foot-long meteorite "Lebanon" 7/15/14

"Figure A is Cacao as seen in Curiosity's shadow on Jan 27, 2023, the 3,724th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. It is made up six individual images captured by Mastcam's 34-millimeter focal length lens, then stitched together once the images were sent back to Earth," writes NASA.

For more space news, check out the weird vortex that spawned in around the Sun's north pole.

Photo of the NASA Roll-Top Backpack - Blue and Grey Backpack
Best Deals: NASA Roll-Top Backpack - Blue and Grey Backpack
Country flag Today 7 days ago 30 days ago
-
- $79.95 USD
Buy
- -
Buy
-
- $79.95 USD
Buy
-
- $79.95 USD
Buy
* Prices last scanned on 12/21/2024 at 6:11 am CST - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission from any sales.
NEWS SOURCE:jpl.nasa.gov

Junior Editor

Email IconX IconLinkedIn Icon

Jak joined the TweakTown team in 2017 and has since reviewed 100s of new tech products and kept us informed daily on the latest science, space, and artificial intelligence news. Jak's love for science, space, and technology, and, more specifically, PC gaming, began at 10 years old. It was the day his dad showed him how to play Age of Empires on an old Compaq PC. Ever since that day, Jak fell in love with games and the progression of the technology industry in all its forms.

Related Topics

Newsletter Subscription