Image Gallery: odd ‘shavings’ in Spirit of St. Louis crater on Mars

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Odd “shavings” on rock after brushing (left side of image). Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

An interesting image from the Opportunity rover, sol 4023. There are a lot of little shavings-like bits on this brushed rock inside the Spirit of St. Louis crater. Are they just a peculiar result of the brushing of dust by the rover instrument or something else? Are they bits of the rock itself or other embedded material? Similar ones were seen once before, but they seem to be uncommon, even after most brushings.

Cropped zoom of some of the "shavings." Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Paul Scott Anderson
Cropped zoom of some of the “shavings.” Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Paul Scott Anderson

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