Odd-looking rock on Mars is totally alien to the Red Planet, Perseverance rover finds
NASA’s Perseverance rover has discovered a very unusual rock on the surface of Mars. The lumpy rock, which has a metal-rich composition, is most likely a meteorite that crashed into the Red Planet – and it’s the first one Perseverance found during its four-year mission scouring the rocks of Mars for signs of life.
Perseverance has found many different rocks since landing in Mars’ Jezero Crater in early 2021, including a “spider egg” rockA “skull” moved and, more recently, a strange turtle-shaped formation. Some of these rocks have also yielded surprising results, such as strange nodules recently discovered in organic-rich samples, which could be the “clearest sign” yet of extraterrestrial life past on Mars.
Until now, the common thing among all the rocks studied by Perseverance was that they came from Mars. But on September 19, during the 1,629th sol (Martian day) of the rover’s mission, the wandering robot came across a strange-looking rock while exploring an area of Jezero nicknamed “Vernodden.” This unusual rock, which measures around 80 centimeters in diameter, has since been named “Phippsaksla” – and is unlikely to be of Martian origin.
“This rock was identified as a target of interest due to its sculpted, elevated appearance which differed from that of the surrounding low, flat, fragmented rocks,” Candice Bedfordgeochemist and mineralogist in the Department of Planetary Sciences at Purdue University, wrote in a NASA statement.
Analysis of the rock revealed that it contains a high concentration of iron and nickel, which is unusual in Martian rocks. But these metals are commonly found in meteorites“suggesting that this rock formed elsewhere in the solar system,” Bedford wrote. It is not known how long it has been on Mars, but it is probably millions or even billions of years old.
“This is not the first time a rover has encountered an exotic rock on Mars,” Bedford wrote. In fact, three different NASA rovers – Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity – discovered potential meteorites during their respective missions, she added. (Among these missions, only Curiosity is still active.)
“As such, it was somewhat unexpected that Perseverance did not see any iron-nickel meteorites in Jezero Crater, especially given its similar age to Gale Crater. [where Curiosity currently resides]” wrote Bedford.
Although the potential meteorite was discovered about two months ago, the discovery was only just announced due to the recent U.S. government shutdown. NASA’s statement regarding Phippsaksla was initially written on October 1, the same day the shutdown began, and was released on November 13, the day after the government reopened.
The shutdown proved to be quite eventful for NASA. Space.com, Live Science’s sister site recently reported that officials had likely begun implementing the agency’s proposed budget cuts during this period, before they were approved by Congress. And since the shutdown ended, NASA scientists have been busy sharing previously held images of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS.
However, Perseverance remained online throughout the shutdown, along with several other “mission-critical operations.”
Martian meteorites
Although finding meteorites on Mars is rare, here on Earth we have found many space rocks from Mars.
These Martian meteorites were ejected by other large meteor impacts on Mars, then fell to Earth after drifting in space for thousands of years. They are highly sought after by scientists because they can tell us a lot about rocks on Marsjust like Perseverance.
In 2024, a study found that about 200 Martian meteorites fell to Earth came from only five different impact craters on the red planet.
And in July, a Martian meteorite — a 54-pound (24.5-kilogram) space rock named NWA 16788, which crashed into the Sahara Desert in 2023 — was discovered. sold for $5.3 million at auctionwhich constitutes a new record for a Martian space rock.
