Mr. LISSAUER: We believe this discovery of this small planet is a rock-solid discovery, even though the planet itself may or may not be solid rock.
Korea's, meanwhile, dates back 8-9, 000 years - the oldest documented anywhere on the planet - with ancient rock art showing the unmistakeable coming together of harpoon and whale, and piles of bones testifying to their consumption.
His "rock ballad" Lonely Planet will be performed at this year's contest in Sweden by Armenian act Dorians.
The robot, which is analysing rock samples on the Red Planet, is now running from a back-up computer.
On Earth, geologists study layers of rock to determine the history of our planet.
Held in a scoop on the rover's mechanical arm, the tablespoon of pulverized gray rock offers planetary scientists their first sample from the planet's interior, where it may have been sheltered from the harsh surface chemistry and ultra-violet radiation.
It is thought to be made largely of rock and circles the Sun in an orbit that brings it close to our planet.
No one anticipated the massive volumes trapped in shale formations underneath the surface of much of the planet, nor the ease with which it can now be fractured out of the rock.
Assuming that the figure was similar during the Cretaceous, it would be a long shot that the first fossil meteorite to turn up from 65m years ago was made of such a rock unless a huge extra supply of carbonaceous chondrite had suddenly arrived on the planet.
Layered rock and layered polar deposits on Mars may also preserve a comparable record of that planet's geologic and environmental history.
Preliminary mapping data show that Vesta is a world layered in many different rock types and minerals, supporting the notion that it might have become a major planet had it not been trapped in the asteroid belt's powerful gravitational rip tides.
应用推荐