Mystery object found by Curiosity rover is ‘benign plastic’

The piece of “benign plastic” photographed by the Curiosity rover. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Malin Space Science Systems

The odd-looking mystery object photographed a few days ago by the Curiosity rover appears to have been positively identified now – it is just a small piece of plastic from the rover itself.

That was the tentative conclusion previously from scientists on the Curiosity team, who temporarily stopped soil sampling activities by the rover to take a closer look. It was necessary to determine whether the material was something that might interfere with that or was something lost from the rover that might cause other problems.

See Examiner.com for the full article.