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Journalism of Courage
NASA’s Perseverance rover noticed an “unusually shaped rock” at Vernodden, located on Mars near the Jezero Crater, during a routine study of the ancient bedrock.
In a blog titled A Stranger in Our Midst, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the rover captured the photograph of the “possible meteorite”, measuring about 80 centimetre across (about 31 inches), with the Left Mastcam Z camera on September 19.
“This rock was identified as a target of interest based on its sculpted, high-standing appearance that differed from that of the low-lying, flat and fragmented surrounding rocks. Last week, Perseverance targeted Phippsaksla with the SuperCam instrument revealing that it is high in iron and nickel,” Candice Bedford, a research scientist at Purdue University, said in the blog dated October 1 and published on November 13.
“This element combination is usually associated with iron-nickel meteorites formed in the core of large asteroids, suggesting that this rock formed elsewhere in the solar system,” she added.
Scientists questioned why the rock seemed different from neighbouring terrain and why its form contrasted so sharply with the ordinary native Martian crust.
According to the NASA blog, this is not the first time a rover has encountered “an exotic rock” on Mars. It said the Curiosity rover has identified many iron-nickel meteorites across its traverse in Gale crater, including the “Lebanon” meteorite in 2014 and the “Cacao” meteorite in 2023.
“Both Mars Exploration Rovers, Opportunity and Spirit, also found iron-nickel meteorites during their missions. As such, it has been somewhat unexpected that Perseverance had not seen iron-nickel meteorites within Jezero crater, particularly given its similar age to Gale crater and number of smaller impact craters suggesting that meteorites did fall on the crater floor, delta, and crater rim throughout time,” said the blog.
“Due to the exotic composition of this rock, more investigation by the team needs to be done to confirm its status as a meteorite. But if this rock is deemed to be a meteorite Perseverance can at long last add itself to the list of Mars rovers who have investigated the fragments of rocky visitors to Mars”.
