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Science 6 August 2004:
Vol. 305. no. 5685, pp. 827 - 829
DOI: 10.1126/science.1100112
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Reports

Magnetic Properties Experiments on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit at Gusev Crater

P. Bertelsen,1* W. Goetz,1 M. B. Madsen,1 K. M. Kinch,2 S. F. Hviid,3 J. M. Knudsen,1 H. P. Gunnlaugsson,2 J. Merrison,2 P. Nørnberg,4 S. W. Squyres,5 J. F. Bell, III,5 K. E. Herkenhoff,6 S. Gorevan,7 A. S. Yen,8 T. Myrick,7 G. Klingelhöfer,9 R. Rieder,10 R. Gellert10

The magnetic properties experiments are designed to help identify the magnetic minerals in the dust and rocks on Mars—and to determine whether liquid water was involved in the formation and alteration of these magnetic minerals. Almost all of the dust particles suspended in the martian atmosphere must contain ferrimagnetic minerals (such as maghemite or magnetite) in an amount of ~2% by weight. The most magnetic fraction of the dust appears darker than the average dust. Magnetite was detected in the first two rocks ground by Spirit.

1 Center for Planetary Science, Danish Space Research Institute and Niels Bohr Institute for Astronomy, Physics and Geophysics, University of Copenhagen, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
2 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Aarhus, DK-8000 Aarhus, Denmark.
3 Max Planck Institut für Aeronomie, D-37191 Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany.
4 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Aarhus, DK-8000 Aarhus, Denmark.
5 Cornell University, Department of Astronomy, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
6 U.S. Geological Survey Branch of Astrogeology, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA.
7 Honeybee Robotics Ltd., New York, NY 10012, USA.
8 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
9 Institut for Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, Johannes Gutenberg-University, D-55099 Mainz, Germany.
10 Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie, D-55020 Mainz, Germany.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: preben{at}fys.ku.dk

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