THE Mars rover Opportunity has been providing ever more spectacular images and data as it carries out its first close-up surveys of an outcrop of bedrock that has tantalised geologists since the rover landed on 25 January.
Opportunity’s initial study of the finely layered bedrock has already revealed important details. Its images show the rock is made up of very fine parallel layers. This had excited scientists, as it raised the possibility that it was sedimentary rock formed in deep water. But the latest images show that the rock is made of extremely fine-grained material, which means this is unlikely.…
