Spirit Rover’s First Martian Soil Analysis Has Surprises

This image shows the patch of soil scientists examined at Gusev Crater just after Spirit rolled off the Columbia Memorial lander. Image credit: NASA/JPL.

January 21, 2004 Pasadena, California - Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena yesterday were puzzled about the first soil examined by the Spirit rover in its alpha particle X-ray spectrometer as it begins its exploration of the Martian Gusev crater.

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