Re: Because mars has iron oxide in its rocks will a powerful magnet attract it?

Hi James and John,

Thanks for your very good question. The short answer is - yes, a lot of the dust on Mars is magnetic and yes, a magnet can attract it. In fact, the two rovers Spirit and Opportunity that are exploring Mars at the moment are both equipped with several magnets to trap and study dust.

There is a lot of iron oxide on Mars which makes it red, but not all iron-containing minerals are magnetic. Take a look at this web page which lists the magnetic minerals.

There are lots of good places on the Web to find out about Mars. I would start with the Mars rovers website. It includes a section describing the science instruments on the rovers, including the magnet array. There is even more information about the rovers at the Cornell Athena website, which also describes the dust-gathering experiments. And last, don't forget Google which is always great for finding information.