A fragment of meteorite back to Mars aboard the Rover
Now the meteorite is used to calibrate the instrument with which to analyse the composition of Martian soil.
NEW YORK, February 16. /Offset. TASS Igor Borisenko/. A piece of a meteorite from Mars return to the planet aboard the Mars Rover that NASA is going to launch by 2020.
As reported on Thursday, the Internet portal Space.com the meteorite, known as Sayḩ al Uhaymir 008, found in 1999 in the territory of Oman probably came to earth from Mars.
According to experts from the jet propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena (California), a meteorite hit the Earth after a fall on the surface of Mars is a large celestial body.
Now NASA experts are using this meteorite in order to calibrate the instrument to analyze the composition of Martian soil. When the Rover reaches the surface of Mars, onboard equipment will again compare the results of the analysis of the soil data with the “reference model” — a fragment of the meteorite.
“We are so subtle analysis, that the slightest noise, for example, temperature change or position of the Rover in the sand may require adjustment to changes, — said the head of the research program Luther Beagle. — We study how the instrument performs measurements static fixed sample, and the result will be better able to evaluate what we observe on the surface of Mars.”
One of the main tasks of the Rover “Mars-2020” — the collection of information on the basis of which scientists estimate the probability of the existence of life on Mars in the distant past, as well as the possibility of human existence on this planet in the future.