The Perseverance rover operating on the surface of the Red Planet has found an amazing striped rock. Scientists said it got to where they found it from some remote place. They want to study its chemical composition.
Journey in the Jezero Crater
Last week, the team scientists were stunned when Perseverance spotted a black and white striped rock not similar to any seen on Mars before. Is this a sign of exciting future discoveries?
About a month has passed since the rover began its ascent up the steep slopes leading to the edge of the crater, searching for ancient rocks that can tell us about Mars’ early history. Although these complex slopes entailed a slow ascent, progress has improved considerably in recent days, as Perseverance moves through a more gentle section. From this location, the rover can view landmarks from previous phases of the mission, such as the iconic Kodiak volcano on the hazy horizon, covered in dust from storms that have passed nearby.
Rock examination
In low-resolution Navcam images, scientists noticed a cobble with hints of an unusual texture. They gave it the name Freya Castle. The team planned a multispectral survey with a Mastcam-Z camera to get a more close look at the find.
When this data was transmitted a few days later, after Perseverance had already left the area, it became clear how unusual it was. Freya Castle is about 20 cm in diameter and has an interesting pattern with alternating black and white stripes. Internet users immediately filled with speculation about what this “zebra rock” might be.
The science team believes this rock has a texture unlike anything seen in Jezero Crater before and possibly on all of Mars. Our knowledge of its chemical composition is limited, but preliminary interpretations suggest that its stripes may have been formed by magmatic and/or metamorphic processes.
Unusual geologic rock on Mars
Since Freya Castle is a loose rock that is clearly different from the main rock underlying it, it probably got here from somewhere else, perhaps by rolling down from a source above. Researchers are very interested in this, and they hope to find that as Perseverance continues upward, it will stumble upon a delamination of this new rock type, allowing for more detailed measurements.
Freya Castle is just the latest in a series of amazing rocks found recently. Since the rover’s arrival in the crater’s vicinity, the team has noticed an increase in rock diversity, such as the collection of boulders on Mount Washburn. Could these be our first glimpses of the ancient rocks lifted from the depths by the Jezero impact, now visible at the edge of the crater? Nothing but time will tell.
According to phys.org
