Astronomy Picture of the Day - powered by LUNEXIT.IT

The continuous observation of Rocks, Boulders and Rocky Outcrops found on the relatively flat (but, however, uneven) Dusty and Rocky Plain that forms the Floor of Gusev Crater (an ancient Impact Crater having a diameter of about 166 Km, located in the Aeolis Quadrangle of Mars at approx. 14,5° South Lat. and 175,4° East Long.), showed that they contain many interesting Minerals, including Pyroxene, Olivine, Plagioclase and Magnetite and it must be said that the amount and type of these Minerals, made all such Rocks belong to the cathegory of the so-called "Primitive Basalts" (also known as "Picritic Basalts").

Gusev's Rocks are substantially similar to some ancient Terrestrial Rocks called "Basaltic Komatiites", and the ones seen and analyzed by the NASA - Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Spirit while rolling of the Floor of Gusev Crater, may actually resemble to the Basaltic Rocks known as Shergottites (such as the Rocks that form many Meteorites that stroke our Home Planet and which - allegedly - came from the Planet Mars. As a matter of fact, many Scientists and Researchers are convinced about the "Martian Nature" of these meteorites, but we, as IPF, strongly believe, however, that such an hypothesis is not only very thin, but also logically flawed and unsubstantiated).

One thing which we are really sure of, instead, is that the Gusev Crater’s Rocks have been altered, in time, probably by thin Films of Water. Why we believe so? Because they are generally softer than their Terrestrial similar and because they often contain veins of light colored material (maybe Bromine Compounds), as well as Coatings and Rinds. It is thought that small amounts of Water (that probably bubbled out from the subsurface or which was contained in the Fog that, sometimes, mantles most of the Surface of Gusev Crater), may have gotten into cracks, thus inducing mineralization processes. Furthermore, the Coatings found on several Rocks may also have occurred when the Rocks themselves were buried or semi-buried.

This frame has been colorized in Absolute Natural Colors (such as the colors that a normal human eye would actually perceive if someone were on the Surface of Mars, near the NASA - Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, and then looked towards the Horizon and Sky), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team