Curiosity Rover Finds Rock Type That’s Never Been Seen on Mars
Just about anything a robot does on another planet is awesome, but apparently finding a kind of rock that's never been seen on that planet before is one of the most awesome. On Oct. 11, NASA announced that after shooting a rock nicknamed Jake Matijevic with lasers and X-rays, Curiosity determined that it is of a variety that no other rover has ever spotted on Mars. Though previously unknown on Mars, the highly fractionated alkalic rock type is relatively well known to geologists because it is common in rift zones on Earth and island chains such as the Hawaiian Islands.
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