NASA’s Perseverance rover made an unprecedented discovery while exploring the Jezero crater on Mars, that could give scientists insights into life that plausibly existed there aeons ago.
"This was like the textbook definition of [chasing] the bright, shiny thing because it was so bright and white,” she added.
Also Read | Scientists uncover universal formula for bird wing flapping frequenciesNASA described the boulder as belonging to "a type never observed before on Mars."
The strange boulder nicknamed ‘Atoco Point’ measured roughly 18 inches across and 14 inches tall, was speckled and conspicuously light-toned.
All of the Perseverance scientists believe that more rocks with a similar composition must exist elsewhere on Mars, NASA said.
NASA’s Perseverance rover made an unprecedented discovery while exploring the Jezero crater on Mars, that could give scientists insights into life that plausibly existed there aeons ago.
The rover discovered a striking light-coloured boulder that stood out among the dark rocks in its proximity while traversing Neretva Vallis on Mars, a region that was once an ancient river channel feeding into the Jezero crater.
"Every once in a while, you'll just see some strange thing in the Martian landscape, and the team is like, 'Oh, let's go over there,'" said Katie Stack Morgan, deputy project scientist for NASA's Mars 2020 mission.
"This was like the textbook definition of [chasing] the bright, shiny thing because it was so bright and white,” she added.
Also Read | Scientists uncover universal formula for bird wing flapping frequencies
NASA described the boulder as belonging to "a type never observed before on Mars."
What is the mystery of the uncanny rock?
The strange boulder nicknamed ‘Atoco Point’ measured roughly 18 inches across and 14 inches tall, was speckled and conspicuously light-toned.
It was spotted among a field of darker boulders on the ‘Mount Washburn’ hill.
"The diversity of textures and compositions at Mount Washburn was an exciting discovery for the team, as these rocks represent a grab bag of geologic gifts brought down from the crater rim and potentially beyond," said Brad Garczynski of Western Washington University, who co-leads the current Perseverance mission, in a statement.
A deeper examination of the rock using the rover's instruments suggested it is presumably an anorthosite, a type of rock commonly found on the moon and in some of Earth's mountain ranges.
However, it was previously undetected on Mars.
NASA said that the boulder was composed of the minerals pyroxene and feldspar, raising speculations from some scientists about its origin possibly being linked to magma that originated below the surface of Mars and may have become exposed on the rim of the Jezero crater over time because of erosion.
Watch | Exhibition on civilisation of ancient Egypt to open at Shanghai Museum × Meanwhile, other scientists suggested that in case the boulder belonged to a different part of the red planet, it may have moved with the ancient river channel to its present location on the rim and therefore appears out of place on Washburn Hill.
All of the Perseverance scientists believe that more rocks with a similar composition must exist elsewhere on Mars, NASA said.
Scientists believe that learning about the makeup of Mars and its past could help them figure out whether the planet's current landscape could ever be habitable for humans.
