Barnacle Bill (Martian Rock) on:
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Barnacle Bill is a rock on 
Early analysis of data sent from ''Sojourner'' led scientists to speculate that the rock was
''Mars Pathfinder'' Science Results
Rocks on Mars Mars Pathfinder {{Mars-crater-stub
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
in Ares Vallis
Ares Vallis is an outflow channel on Mars, named after the Greek name for Mars: Ares, the god of war; it appears to have been carved by fluids, perhaps water. The valley 'flows' northwest out of the hilly Margaritifer Terra, where the Iani Ch ...
. It was the first rock on Mars analyzed by the ''Sojourner'' rover using its Alpha Proton X-ray Spectrometer
:''APXS is also an abbreviation for APache eXtenSion tool, an extension for Apache web servers.''
An alpha particle X-ray spectrometer (APXS) is a spectrometer that analyses the chemical element composition of a sample from scattered alpha pa ...
. The encounter occurred during Sol 3 of the ''Mars Pathfinder
''Mars Pathfinder'' was an American robotic spacecraft that landed a base station with a rover (space exploration), roving probe on Mars in 1997. It consisted of a Lander (spacecraft), lander, renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station, and a ligh ...
'' mission on the surface of Mars and took ten hours to complete.
Early analysis of data sent from ''Sojourner'' led scientists to speculate that the rock was andesite
Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...
.
The name was inspired in mission scientists by barnacle
Barnacles are arthropods of the subclass (taxonomy), subclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacean, Crustacea. They are related to crabs and lobsters, with similar Nauplius (larva), nauplius larvae. Barnacles are exclusively marine invertebra ...
-like structures on the rock that appeared in transmitted photos.
References
See also
*List of rocks on Mars
Martian rocks and outcrops have been studied ''in-situ'' by various landers and rovers. While many of the rocks identified on the Martian surface are similar to each other, some have been considered scientifically important or otherwise notabl ...
*Yogi Rock
Yogi Rock is a Rock (geology), rock on Mars that was discovered during the ''Mars Pathfinder'' mission in 1997, and named by Geoffrey A. Landis. The rocks found on the mission were named after famous icons and figures, and Yogi Rock was thought t ...
External links
''Mars Pathfinder'' Science Results
Rocks on Mars Mars Pathfinder {{Mars-crater-stub