Bounce = Antartic meteorite?

[robnissen]

I don't know how I missed this:<br /><br />(Note: the following link is incorrect, it links to a story that has nothing to do with Space Science, but it is kindof humorous, the correct link is below. I am leaving this link in, however, because the posts below will make no sense without this link.)<br /><br />Incorrect Link:<br />http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12328833-23109,00.html<br /><br />Correct link: http://www.insightmag.com/news/2005/02/21/Features/Lady-Luck.Watches.Over.Mars.Rovers-872187.shtml<br />"Maybe the biggest piece of luck of all consisted of a rock that has nothing to do with Martian water. The rock, named Bounce because it was hit by Opportunity's airbag on the way to Eagle crater, was found by the rover's instruments to match perfectly another rock called EETA79001. The latter is the catalog number for a Martian meteorite found on Earth. <br /><br />The chemistry and composition of Bounce and EETA79001 are identical. They must have been produced by the same impact event -- except one ended up on the ice in Antarctica, where it was discovered in 1979, and the other landed back on the Martian surface, where it got bumped by a NASA spacecraft. What would be the odds on that?"<br /><br />Is this story correct, or has the media botched it once again. If it is correct, could someone give me a link that has more info? I had not heard of this.<br /><br />Thx.<br /><br />

 

[alpha_taur1]

The story is quite accurate as it goes. The link you gave goes to another news story, but Steven Squyres wrote,<br /><br /> "The elemental abundance of Bounce rock is similar to that of EETA#79001 lithology B; however, the infrared spectra of EETA#79001B and Bounce rock differ in the 9- to 12-µm region. Deconvolution of the laboratory spectrum of EETA#79001B gives mineral abundances that closely match its measured modal mineralogy of 30 to 50% pigeonite, 10 to 25% high-Ca clinopyroxene, 30% maskelynite (shocked plagioclase), and 5% opaque minerals. The best fit to the Bounce rock spectrum gives high-Ca clinopyroxene instead of the low-Ca clinopyroxene pigeonite, although the four emissivity minima between 850 and 1100 cm. I suggest that pigeonite is present in Bounce rock but poorly modeled with our current collection of pigeonite samples." (Science)<br /><br />So that's it in a nutshell. Bounce fits one of the lithologies of EETA79001B very closely.

 

[robnissen]

Thx, although now I am a little more confused. From the post you gave me, it looks like, while the rocks are similar, they are not identical enough to assume they came from the same event. Am I correct?

 

[alpha_taur1]

To answer that question requires more detailed compositional analysis of more Martian rocks. They are quite a good match.

 

[claywoman]

ROFLMAO!!! The link goes to a story about an Alaskan couple who had a fight and the woman cut off her partner's special 'part' and flushed it down the toilet....<br /><br />Okay...now that I've stopped laughing, where is the actual story?

 

[a lone wolf]

it appears the orginal story has disappeared into cyber space and that one *squirms* replaced it.... OUCH!

 

[robnissen]

So, I had cut and pasted the link to the severed "part" story and apparantly, I then pasted that link by mistake. (Red-face). Anyway, here is the correct link, but you do have to admit that other link was good for a chuckle --- in a squirming sortof way.<br /><br />http://www.insightmag.com/news/2005/02/21/Features/Lady-Luck.Watches.Over.Mars.Rovers-872187.shtml

 

[centsworth_II]

The video press briefing where the relationship of Bounce to Mars meteorites found on Earth was revealed was very exciting. They played up the suspence.<br /><br />You may relive some of the excitement in viewing the images from that press briefing HERE . The Bounce images start a few images down. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[centsworth_II]

I couldn't find the press briefing video but you can see a mention of Bounce at 1hr 5min 25sec into the 5/20/04 rover lecture linked on this page . Not much, but you may like viewing the lecture anyway. If you missed Bounce rock, what other interesting things might you have missed, or forgotten that are covered in the lecture? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[robnissen]

Thx for the links. The luck of oppy is truly amazing.