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NASA Rover Drills Martian Rock for Water...

Feb 26, 2004 4:58AM PST

"LOS ANGELES (AP) - NASA's Opportunity rover extended its arm and played robot geologist, drilling into a martian rock that has intrigued scientists back on Earth.

The six-wheeled rover used the rock-abrasion tool on its instrument-tipped arm to grind a fraction of an inch into the surface of a rock in a formation dubbed "El Capitan," project manager Richard Cook said Tuesday.

The rock's weathered surface was ground away so that the rover could examine the material underneath and photograph it in microscopic detail. Results were expected to take several days to reach Earth...

Halfway around Mars, Opportunity's twin rover, Spirit, continued to roll toward a crater, traveling nearly 100 feet on Tuesday. NASA planned to send the rover a short distance farther, then pause for a few days for observations, Cook said."

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100 feet?
Feb 26, 2004 5:09AM PST

That's 52.8 days for a mile? They must have used my old VW as a model. Happy

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Thanks Blake - a very facinating story of what's happening on Mars Nt
Feb 26, 2004 7:10AM PST

NT