[X] My Assistant

[jaredGalen]

Looks like the streak spotted back in March is most likely a bit of a comet called Wiseman–Skiff. According to this article

Fantastic little addition to Spirits 'research portfolio.'

[edstrick]

If, big-if, the bright colored etched terrain materials are exposures of Meridiani sulfate rock between thinner and/or sparser drifts of basalt and dune materials...

We may see a lot more of random rocks from the sky scattered across the terrain on top of the Meridiani sulfate rock layers than we can see in the scattered thin inter-drift deposits we've been crawling over. Maybe.

[Bob Shaw]

I don't think I'd suggest using valuable rover resources to go meteorite-hunting at present, but as a future goal, that's another matter! Anywhere that sorting of debris has happened seem like places to look - the polar deposits (ice and CO2), polar moraines, talus below water seeps, polygons, sublimed-away ice features... ...loads of opportunities, if we have the spirit! (sorry)

Whether or not rovers would be up to the job - ever - is something that we might question - it may be a case of the Mark I Human Eyeball being needed, not to mention them gripper manipilatory things, what do you call 'em, oh yes - hands!

[helvick]

This whole area deserves a l-o-t of thought - imagine a sample return mission which could obtain material from several planets at once...

Not a bad idea at all. As Abalone says places like Meridiani should act somewhat like Antarctica but on a significantly longer timescale so there should be lots of non martian debris mixed with the local stuff.

Slightly OT warning: While searching for data on this I found an amazingly balanced review of research on meteor rates by some folks at the Institute of Creation Research of all places. Moon Dust and the Age of the Solar System. It's very long and in depth, full of good reference material and comes to (what seem to me) sensible conclusions despite the fact that the authors clearly wished otherwise. It would be useful if more creationist research were this thorough.