Looks like a garlic clove to me.

January 27, 2006 12:24 PM

Strange two-tone rock found on Mars.
posted by sohcahtoa (39 comments total)

Hey yeah, I saw that photo. I was hoping they'd roll up close and do some drilling, but from the raw images it looks like the rover has just moved on.
posted by brownpau at 12:36 PM on January 27, 2006

The God of War is stylin'!
posted by CynicalKnight at 12:39 PM on January 27, 2006

Oh Charlie Brown, won't you ever get candy?
posted by nevercalm at 12:45 PM on January 27, 2006

it's clearly an iMac
posted by matteo at 12:45 PM on January 27, 2006

Strange two-tone rock found on Mars

file it as Sample #8675309.
posted by jonmc at 12:47 PM on January 27, 2006

well played, jonmc.
posted by lord_wolf at 12:51 PM on January 27, 2006

Genius, jonmc.

That aside, Spirit and Opportunity are about the most awesome things we've ever launched into space. That they are still exploring two years later is nothing short of thrilling.

I mean, if you're into this sort of thing. Which I am. Just saying.
posted by Joey Michaels at 12:54 PM on January 27, 2006

Finally, definitive proof of aliens. What other explanation could there be?
posted by rottytooth at 12:55 PM on January 27, 2006

You see rocks like this on Earth where they have been partially buried and then exhumed. The rock is typically coated by a material called caliche (which is usually calcium carbonate) on Earth, but on Mars this coating might be some sort of Fe,Mg sulfate. They probably passed by this rock because they have analyzed other rocks nearby and have a good idea what the coating is made of.

They are also driving as fast as possible to get to the north facing slope on the other end of this depression so that they get good solar exposure for the upcoming winter.
posted by spaceviking at 1:01 PM on January 27, 2006

posted by Smedleyman at 1:01 PM on January 27, 2006

It's just called ska.
posted by redteam at 1:02 PM on January 27, 2006

Check out this picture taken by the PanCam at much better resolution...
posted by spaceviking at 1:06 PM on January 27, 2006

Swing baby!

...Actually it looks more like a dead turkey to me.
posted by Smedleyman at 1:09 PM on January 27, 2006

243 days on Mars (qt)
(insert frenetic soundtrack of choice to maximize viewing pleasure)
posted by eddydamascene at 1:12 PM on January 27, 2006

It's clearly part of a mannequin wearing a white sweater. How it got from Macy's window to the surface of Mars I will leave as an exercise for the reader.
posted by languagehat at 1:12 PM on January 27, 2006

That PanCam picture is fantastic. And "That aside, Spirit and Opportunity are about the most awesome things we've ever launched into space. That they are still exploring two years later is nothing short of thrilling." is exactly my feelings and why I posted this. Every time I think about those rovers I get chills.
posted by sohcahtoa at 1:12 PM on January 27, 2006

Ah! Thanks, spaceviking! Much better image. I think the Spirit team isn't slowing down for much. They're in a hurry to slide into Home Plate.
posted by steef at 1:19 PM on January 27, 2006

Damn, Brits are planting evesdropping rocks on Mars too.....
posted by JJ86 at 1:24 PM on January 27, 2006

Spirit and Opportunity in Brokeback Mars.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:28 PM on January 27, 2006

Nice one, JJ86.
posted by shoepal at 1:53 PM on January 27, 2006

I, for one, welcome our two-toned Martian overlords.
posted by frogan at 2:05 PM on January 27, 2006

Dammit, redteam, you beat me to it!
posted by ZenMasterThis at 2:20 PM on January 27, 2006

that's not a rock.
posted by 3.2.3 at 2:55 PM on January 27, 2006

Obviously a UK spy device
posted by exogenous at 3:06 PM on January 27, 2006

"...trolling Unmanned Predator Drone bars..."

There's a phrase you don't hear every day.
posted by gottabefunky at 3:22 PM on January 27, 2006

That is a really weird image. Almost looks like it was photoshopped in. Nice post, sohcahtoa.
posted by Citizen Premier at 3:30 PM on January 27, 2006

Headcrabs? On Mars?
posted by jenovus at 3:36 PM on January 27, 2006

by the way the "roving mars" imax opened today, and it is awesome. 100% engineer porn.
posted by joeblough at 3:47 PM on January 27, 2006

rottytooth: Finally, definitive proof of aliens. What other explanation could there be?

Of course. A two toned rock is much too complex to have occurred naturally... therefore it must have been designed by something intelligent. ;)
posted by modernerd at 4:17 PM on January 27, 2006

Reminds me of something like this.
posted by sellout at 4:33 PM on January 27, 2006

Heh heh heh, Tommy Tutone, I get it heh heh heh
...that was damn funny jonmc.
posted by Smedleyman at 4:59 PM on January 27, 2006

only took me 5 hours.
posted by Smedleyman at 5:00 PM on January 27, 2006

and a rock out in the middle of nowhere now thought to be a meteorite.

What does it take, on Mars, to qualify as being "in the middle of nowhere?"
posted by QuietDesperation at 5:19 PM on January 27, 2006

To me, it looks like a tooth. The implications are astounding.
posted by SPrintF at 6:33 PM on January 27, 2006

I still marvel at thinking about us having 2 remote control vehicles with cameras on them on a different planet.

Those images would be impressive if beamed to my house from Arizona.

Simply astounding.
posted by Ynoxas at 7:27 PM on January 27, 2006

1) jonmc wins.

2) eddydamascene, thanks -- that was way cool.

It was fun talking to Geoff Landis about the rovers. "Well, parking on the slope for the winter is a pretty clever trick, but we're still really thankful for that lucky dust devil that cleaned off Spirit...."
posted by eriko at 7:55 PM on January 27, 2006

ahh.. there's my toaster.
posted by yossarian1 at 10:03 PM on January 27, 2006

Fortune Cookie.
posted by hockeyman at 8:20 AM on January 28, 2006

Well, what are we waiting for? Let's poke it with an inanimate carbon rod!
posted by blindcarboncopy at 10:45 PM on January 28, 2006