The head of the scientific team of the rover Opportunity, Steve Squires, has recognized the so-called "wandering rock" found on the surface of Mars, a phenomenon for which scientists find it difficult to explain. Squires said this at a press conference dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the launch of the rover.
According to him, the scientists conducted a spectrometric analysis of the stone. It turned out that the rock contains large amounts of sulfur and magnesium. In addition, the content of manganese in the stone was twice as high as in any other Martian rock known to scientists. Squires says his team doesn't understand what that might mean.
Now scientists are considering two versions explaining the unexpected appearance of a stone next to the rover. According to one of them, the stone appeared next to the rover as a result of a meteor shower. Nevertheless, scientists themselves consider this scenario to be unlikely.
Squires called the second version more plausible. According to him, the rover could accidentally hook a stone with a wheel, break it and drag it along. At the same time, it is known that the stone appeared in front of the rover during a period when it stood in one place for about a month without any movement.
The "Wandering Stone" was discovered in January 2014 in images taken by the Opportunity rover. So, it turned out that he was absent in the photographs for the 3536th Martian day, but already on the 3537th Martian day, he appears on them. One side of the rock is covered with Martian dust, while the other looks dark, but with light patches.
The Opportunity rover has been operating on Mars since January 2004. It was expected that the period of its operation will not exceed three months, but the rover is still functioning. At the same time, a more modern Mars rover Curiosity is operating on the planet's surface at the same time. In addition, shortly before Opportunity, the Spirit rover was delivered to Mars, but a few years later it was lost.
