Information AboutMeridiani Planum |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT MERIDIANI PLANUM | |
| albedo features on mars | |
| plains on mars | |
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deposits in Meridiani Planum mapped from orbit, with '' Opportunity '' rover landing site ellipse]] Meridiani Planum is a plain located 2 degrees south of Mars ' equator, in the westernmost portion of Sinus Meridiani . It hosts a rare occurrence of gray crystalline Hematite . On Earth , hematite is often formed in Hot Spring s or in standing pools of Water ; therefore, many scientists believe that the hematite at Meridiani Planum may be indicative of ancient hot springs or that the environment contained liquid water. The hematite is part of a layered Sedimentary Rock formation approximately 200 meters thick. Other features of Meridiani Planum include Volcanic Basalt and Impact Crater s. MARS ROVER ''OPPORTUNITY'' In 2004 , Meridiani Planum was the landing site for the second of NASA 's two Mars Exploration Rovers , named '' Opportunity ''. It had also been the target landing site for Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander , which was cancelled after the failures of the Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander missions. Preliminary results from ''Opportunity'' indicate that its landing site was once saturated for a long period of time with liquid water, possibly of high salinity and acidity. Features that suggest this include cross-bedded sediments, the presence of many small spherical pebbles that appear to be Concretion s, Vug s inside rocks, and the presence of large amounts of Magnesium Sulfate and other sulfate-rich minerals such as Jarosite . In January 2005 , the ''Opportunity'' rover discovered a pitted, boulder-like metallic object which was named Heat Shield Rock . Spectrometer analysis proved its identity as an iron-nickel Meteorite . CRATERS WITHIN MERIDIANI PLANUM
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