NASA reports that a curious glint in the Red Planet's soil has briefly halted Mars rover scooping operations for a close-up investigation.


Ooh, shiny! NASA's Curiosity rover has spotted something curious on the Martian soil, likely "a shred of plastic" from the rover, says the space agency. Still, NASA is taking a hard look at the mystery object.


The team has halted scooping tests with the rover to take more pictures of the glinting object. "The rover team's assessment is that the bright object is something from the rover, not Martian material," says the space agency statement. Out of a sense of caution, the rover team will take more images of the bright object and Curiosity's surroundings Wednesday, before proceeding with scooping operations.


"Beats me what it is! It looks rea

l — that is, something is really there — and it doesn't look like a rock," says astronomer Phil Plait of Discover Magazine's Bad Astronomy website. While the glint could be a piece of plastic from the rover, it doesn't look like a screw or important part, says Plait, by e-mail (the space agency called the object "benign" in its latest statement). "I think JPL and NASA are right to stop activities until they can determine if this is just a bit of Martian landscape or something that might have come off Curiosity itself. Either way, it's worth investigating," Plait says.

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