The Mars rover named Opportunity landed on Mars on January 25, 2004. The original mission was to last ninety Martian days, or sols. Six years later, the small rover is still doing great science. Currently Opportunity is next to a young crater called ‘Concepcion‘. The crater had dark rays emanating from it, which means that it is likely a young crater. Since it may be young, this made it an interesting target for Opportunity to visit.

While at Concepcion crater, Opportunity took the opportunity to take some pictures of rocks that had been ejected from the 10 meter crater. In the false colored image to the right, we can see some of the differences in materials on one of the rocks.

The rover used the tools on its robotic arm to examine the texture and composition of target areas on the rock with and without the dark coating. The rock is about the size of a loaf of bread. Initial analysis was inconclusive about whether the coating on the rock is material that melted during the impact event that dug the crater.

This view is presented in false color, which makes some differences between materials easier to see. It combines three separate images taken through filters admitting wavelengths of 750 nanometers, 530 nanometers and 430 nanometers. Opportunity took the image during the 2,147nd Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s mission on Mars (Feb. 6, 2010).

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University

On March 9th, Opportunity left Concepcion crater, and has driven 614 meters towards the Endeavour Crater. Thus far the rover has driven more than 12 kilometers, but still has about 19 kilometers to go.

via : Mars Rover Examines Odd Material at Small, Young Crater