'Diamond' in 3-D

Credit: Image credit: NASA/JPL, Posted on: Monday, 23 August 2004, 06:00 CDT Download full size image

This 3-D, microscopic imager mosaic of a target area on a rock called Diamond Jenness was taken after NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity ground into the surface with its rock abrasion tool for a second time. Opportunity has bored nearly a dozen holes into the inner walls of Endurance Crater. On sols 177 and 178 (July 23 and July 24, 2004), the rover worked double-duty on Diamond Jenness. Surface debris and the bumpy shape of the rock resulted in a shallow and irregular hole, only about 2 millimeters (0.08 inch) deep. The final depth was not enough to remove all the bumps and leave a neat hole with a smooth floor. This extremely shallow depression was then examined by the rover's alpha particle X-ray spectrometer.

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