Editing Heat Shield Rock (section)

{{short description|Basketball-sized iron-nickel meteorite found on Mars}}
{{Infobox meteorite
|Name                      = Heat Shield Rock
|Alternative names         = Meridiani Planum meteorite
|Image                     = PIA07269-Mars Rover Opportunity-Iron Meteorite.jpg
|Image_caption             = Heat Shield Rock
|Type                      = Iron
|Class                     =
|Clan                      =
|Group                     = Probably [[IAB meteorite|IAB]]
|Grouplet                  = <!-- For groups n<5 -->
|Subgroup                  =
|Structural_classification =
|Parent body               =
|Composition               = 93% Iron, 7% nickel, trace of germanium (~300 ppm) & gallium (<100 ppm)
|Shock                     =
|Weathering                =
|Country                   =
|Region                    = [[Meridiani Planum]]
|Lat_Long                  = {{coord|1.9|S|354.5|E|globe:mars|display=inline,title}}
|Observed_fall             = No
|Fall_date                 =
|Found_date                = January 2005
|TKW                       =
|Image2                    =
|Image2_caption            =
}}
{{Wikinews|Mars Rover’s Basketball-Shaped Discovery Stirs Controversy | Rover finds meteorite on Mars}}

'''Heat Shield Rock''' is a [[Basketball (ball)|basketball]]-sized [[iron-nickel meteorite]] found on the [[Meridiani Planum]] plain of [[Mars]] by the Mars rover [[Opportunity rover|''Opportunity'']] in January 2005.

Informally referred to as "Heat Shield Rock" by the Opportunity research team, the [[meteorite]] was formally named '''Meridiani Planum meteorite''' by the [[Meteoritical Society]] in October 2005 (meteorites are always named after the place where they were found).<ref>The Meteoritical Society, Guidelines For Meteorite Nomenclature, 2.2 Distinctive names [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/docs/nc-guidelines.htm#s22]</ref>