Mars Rover Digs Up Shiny Particles

Native to red planet, not debris from Curiosity, as was feared


NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has found some more bright stuff on the Red Planet, scientists say.

The Curiosity rover had dumped out a recent sample of Mars dirt after spotting shiny particles inside the hole dug by the shovel-like scoop on its robotic arm. Mission scientists were concerned that the bright material might be debris from the rover itself, so they ordered Curiosity to toss the Mars sample as a safety precaution, mission managers said in a statement.

As it turns out, the bright particles are actual Martian in origin, they added.