Metal on the Plains of Mars

Explanation: What has the Opportunity rover found on Mars? While traversing a vast empty plain in 2005 in Meridiani Planum , one of Earth's rolling robots on Mars found a surprise when visiting the location of its own metallic heat shield discarded last year during descent . The surprise is the rock visible on the lower left, found to be made mostly of dense metals iron and nickel . The large cone-shaped object behind it -- and the flank piece on the right -- are parts of Opportunity's jettisoned heat shield. Smaller shield debris is also visible. Scientists do not think that the basketball -sized metal “Heat Shield Rock” originated on Mars , but rather is likely an ancient metallic meteorite . In hindsight, finding a meteorite in a vast empty dust plain on Mars might be considered similar to Earth meteorites found on the vast empty ice plains of Antarctica . The finding raises speculations about the general abundance of rocks on Mars that have fallen there from outer space.