Rock Mysteriously Appears in Front of Mars Rover
Most likely flipped by the rover
After a decade of exploring the Martian surface, the scientists overseeing veteran rover Opportunity thought they'd seen it all. That was until a rock mysteriously "appeared" a few feet in front of the six wheeled rover a few days ago.
News of the errant rock was announced by NASA Mars Exploration Rover lead scientist Steve Squyres of Cornell University at a special NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory "10 years of roving Mars" event at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, Calif., on Thursday night. The science star-studded public event was held in celebration of the decade since twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity landed on the Red Planet in January 2004.
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My kid probably left it there.
Is his name Michael Valentine Smith?
I grokked that!
She's a member in good standing of the Church of All Worlds.
And she leaves junk laying around everywhere.
Lucky it wasn't a Lego. If it affected the rover like Legos affect vacuum cleaners, that would be the end of the rover.
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NO KILL
And there are no tigers within 30 million miles of that rock.
Could the rover smell what it was cooking?
Very, very nice. Somehow it took me 10 seconds to get this, even though it was definitely about the most electrifying discovery in space exploration.
So the hypothesis is that the rover flipped the rock while turning. Suuuuuurrre