- Original Caption Released with Image:
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 | | Figure 1 | Figure 2 |
Scientists were using the Moessbauer spectrometer on NASA's Mars
Exploration Rover Spirit when something unexpected happened. The
instrument's contact ring had been placed onto the ground as a reference
point for placement of another instrument, the alpha particle X-ray
spectrometer, for analyzing the soil. After Spirit removed the Moessbauer
from the target, the rover's microscopic imager revealed a gap in the
imprint left behind in the soil. The gap, about a centimeter wide (less
than half an inch), is visible on the left side of this stereo view.
Scientists concluded that a small chunk of soil probably adhered to the
contact ring on the front surface of the Moessbauer. Before anyone saw
that soil may have adhered to the Moessbauer, that instrument was placed
to analyze martian dust collected by a magnet on the rover. The team plans
to take images to see if any soil is still attached to the Moessbauer.
Spirit took these images on the rover's 240th martian day, or sol (Sept.
4, 2004).
Figure 1 is the left-eye view of a stereo pair and Figure 2 is the
right-eye view of a stereo pair.
- Image Credit:
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NASA/JPL/Cornell/USGS
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