Meteorite on Mars

Opportunity, one of the twin rovers on Mars, has discovered the first meteorite on a planet other than Earth. Initial observations, taken from a distance with the rover’s thermal-emission spectrometer, indicated that the pitted, basketball-size body is a metal-rich meteorite. Driving close enough to use its X-ray and gamma-ray spectrometers, Opportunity confirmed the object’s meteorite status and revealed that it’s made mostly of iron and nickel, NASA announced on Jan.