Mystery Rock 'Appears' in Front of Mars Rover

Link

This is interesting. It's a rock. But how did it get there?
They speculate possibly a meteor event or even the rover itself flipping the rock over.
Or maybe it's some Alien teens playing a prank.
But it's interesting nonetheless.

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.

reply to post by grey580


[snip]

Definitely going with aliens on this one. Seems the most logical of all possible explanations.

reply to post by DeadSeraph


alien rocks? yep that is the definition of any rock on mars

did arken got a job in discovery news?

or mysteriously moved there by the pick up arm or the other method of locking one wheel and pushing.

reply to post by DeadSeraph


Normally I see posts like this and it's always someone saying.

Hey this rock looks like a martian rodent, alien life form etc...

This time the rock is just a rock.

But how did it get there is the question.

I hope everyone gets a laugh out of this posts.

so how long have they been sitting on these pictures?? I suppose they waited until they had reasonable explanation for it ,,then had the big roll out ....if not it would of been censored

Alright, I will say it. It's Photo-shopped.

The Aliens are up to their old tricks again.

Even though Opportunity hasn't moved its position between Sol 3528 and Sol 3540, it was still doing some maneuvers during that time. I can imagine a scenario where the spinning of a wheel may have kicked up a rock that was beneath the wheel.

reply to post by grey580


I'm going with weather balloon or swamp gas.

Nope, it's a weather balloon.

Misinformation
so how long have they been sitting on these pictures?? I suppose they waited until they had reasonable explanation for it ,,then had the big roll out ....if not it would of been censored

The pictures from Opportunity are usually posted about 3 days after they are taken. However, it often takes a couple of days for the full-resolution pictures to be downloaded to Earth after they are taken. For the most part, they are posted within a day after they are received.

The images from Sol 3540 (showing the rock) were taken January 7, and had been posted on NASA's website several days ago. The most recent images (posted yesterday, January 16) were taken on Sol 3546, which was January 13.

reply to post by grey580


This "ROCK" could be The Major Event in Mars exploration....
S&F.


"Something" is moving on Mars... and is NOT the Rover....

reply to post by grey580


Come on people its obviously a shape shifting , reptilian , 5th dimension Chinese lantern.

Or a crop circle, i haven't decided yet.

Soylent Green Is People

I can imagine a scenario where the spinning of a wheel may have kicked up a rock that was beneath the wheel.

Enough of that crazy talk!

They're coming - build a bunker and stockpile food. We're all gonna be enslaved by a master race of small rock moving Martians!!!!

Soylent Green Is People

Even though Opportunity hasn't moved its position between Sol 3528 and Sol 3540, it was still doing some maneuvers during that time. I can imagine a scenario where the spinning of a wheel may have kicked up a rock that was beneath the wheel.

One of the wheels is broken, so it scrapes along the ground when turning left or right. They say that during one of its maneuvers this scraping probably dislodged and actually flipped over this rock. They say that since the bottom side hasn't been exposed for billions of years it's a unique chance to explore the "underside" of a Mars rock.

From the OP source:

Opportunity’s front right steering actuator has stopped working, so Squyres identified that as the possible culprit behind the whole mystery.

Each wheel on the rover has its own actuator. Should an actuator jam or otherwise fail, the robot’s mobility can suffer. In the case of this wheel, it can no longer turn left or right. “So if you do a turn in place on bedrock,” continued Squyres, “as you turn that wheel across the rock, it’s gonna kinda ‘chatter.’” This jittery motion across the bedrock may have propelled the rock out of place, “tiddlywinking” the object from its location and flipping it a few feet away from the rover.

Well obviously they need to use the arm to move the rock around and see what shakes loose. Hmm no other rocks disturbed near it so forget the dragging wheel theory. If you look closely at the first picture there is a possible worm there. Maybe this was a mistake and attempt to hide life? Don't look what's there now look at what was there before someone pasted the rock there. This may be the opps moment that exposes NASA's cover ups.

interesting half a donut shape rock , I wonder what ate the other half?, but then opportunity's been up there so long it probably evolving into E.A.T.E.R


funbox

Now, on the other hand (there's always an other hand):

Zoom in and check out the pipettes sticking out from this rock, there are several, and one (near the bottom left) is giving off a very nice shadow. If this rock was "flipped" over, as they guess, where were those pipettes when it was laying on its original side. Or are they maybe made of original mud from the bottom of the Gale Crater Lake:

Xeven
Well obviously they need to use the arm to move the rock around and see what shakes loose. Hmm no other rocks disturbed near it so forget the dragging wheel theory...

It's not necessarily due to a dragging wheel, but maybe it was flipped out there by a wheel that was on top of the rock. When the wheel turned, the rock was "flipped" out in front of the rover.

Just a quick reply I'm not an expert so can't provide a valid opinion. I like the sound of the wheel flipping a rock it's seems quote logical but the stupid side of me says it's one of those alien rock things on the film Apollo 18

Or it's one of them crabs from pirates of the Caribbean that looks like a rock, the ones that move the black pearl across the sands in the 3rd film. Apologies if anyone hasn't seen those films

S+F because of the curiosity

reply to post by PhoenixOD


It's a martian hermit crab probably