Bounce Rock is a football-sized primarily

pyroxene The pyroxenes (commonly abbreviated to ''Px'') are a group of important rock-forming inosilicate minerals found in many igneous and metamorphic rocks. Pyroxenes have the general formula , where X represents calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), iron (Fe II) ...

rock found within the

Meridiani Planum The Meridiani Planum (alternately Meridiani plain, Meridiani plains, Terra Meridiani, or Terra Meridiani plains) is either a large plain straddling the equator of Mars and covered with a vast number of spherules containing a lot of iron oxide or ...

of the planet

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

. It was discovered and observed by the

Mars Exploration Rover NASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission was a robotic space mission involving two Mars rovers, ''Spirit (rover), Spirit'' and ''Opportunity (rover), Opportunity'', exploring the planet Mars. It began in 2003 with the launch of the two rover ...

Opportunity Opportunity may refer to: Places * Opportunity, Montana, an unincorporated community, United States * Opportunity, Nebraska, an unincorporated community, United States * Opportunity, Washington, a former census-designated place, United States * 3 ...

'' in April 2004. The rock was named for it having been struck by ''Opportunity'' as the craft bounced to a stop during its landing stage. Bounce Rock bears a striking resemblance to a class of

meteorites A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or moon. When the original object en ...

found on Earth known as

shergottites A Martian meteorite is a rock that formed on Mars, was ejected from the planet by an impact event, and traversed interplanetary space before landing on Earth as a meteorite. , 277 meteorites had been classified as Martian, less than half a percen ...

, that are believed to have originated from Mars.

Bopolu (crater) Bopolu is an impact crater located within the Meridiani Planum extraterrestrial plain of Mars. Bopulu was seen by ''Opportunity'' rover in 2010 in the distance, and with some of its rim visible. Bopoplu was officially named in 2006 along with 31 ...

was identified as a possible source of Bounce rock.

References

External links

Nasa's Mars Exploration Program
Mars Exploration Rover mission Rocks on Mars {{crater-stub

See also

References

External links