~!~ NASA*s Mars rover Curiosity went out of its way to investigate a rock the likes of which it has never seen before on the Red Planet//
~!~ Measurements by Curiosity*s rock-zapping ChemCam laser and another instrument revealed that the target, a chunk of bedrock dubbed Elk, contains high levels of silica and hydrogen, NASA officials said// (ukcanadaus)
~!~ **One never knows what to expect on Mars, but the Elk target was interesting enough to go back and investigate,** ChemCam principal investigator Roger Wiens, of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, said in a statement//
~!~ Elk lies near a spot on the lower reaches of the 3.4-mile-high (5.5 kilometers) Mount Sharp, called Marias Pass, whose rocks Curiosity had been studying// Marias Pass is a **geological contact zone** where dark sandstone meets lighter mudstone// (ukcanadaus)
~!~ **We found an outcrop named Missoula where the two rock types came together, but it was quite small and close to the ground,** Curiosity project scientist Ashwin Vasavada, of NASA*s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in the same statement// **We used the robotic arm to capture a dog*s-eye view with the MAHLI camera, getting our nose right in there//**ChemCam had fired at the Elk bedrock from the top of a small hill close to Marias Pass, which Curiosity had summitted before taking a look at the contact zone// After looking at the Missoula outcrop, the 1-ton rover began moving on, but an analysis of ChemCam*s data persuaded the team to turn Curiosity around for a closer look at Elk, mission team members said// (ukcanadaus)