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NASA ’s Perseverance wanderer has spot a noisome " zebra rock candy " on Mars ' Jezero crater that ’s nothing like any rock seen on the Red Planet before .
The rover captured images of the black - and - white stripy stone earlier this calendar month using a television camera mounted high on its mast . NASA scientists develop the images Sept. 13 , after Perseverance had already left the area , according to astatement .
NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover captured this image of a black-and-white striped rock using its Left Mastcam-Z camera. This image was acquired on Sept. 13, 2024 (Sol 1268) at the local mean solar time of 12:40:29.
The rock , which scientists dub " Freya Castle , " has a never - before - seen grain . " Our knowledge of its chemical composition is limited , but other interpretations are that igneous and/or metamorphous mental process could have produce its stripe , " NASA representatives write in the statement .
eruptive processes are those related to the crystallization of magma , while metamorphous cognitive process are change in the composition of John Rock due to gamy heat and pressure .
Freya Castle measures just about 8 inches ( 20 centimeters ) across . The zebra rock is escaped and unlike from the underlying fundamentals , suggesting it originate from somewhere else , according to the statement .
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One possibility is that the rock may have rolled down from farther up the crater . " This possibility has us excited , " NASA representatives suppose . " We desire that as we continue to repulse uphill , Perseverance will meet an outcrop of this raw sway case so that more detailed measurement can be acquired . "
pertinacity is currently climbing the steep slopes of the Jezero crater , where itfirst stir downin February 2021 . It has been about a month since the rover began its acclivity . Progress was sluggish to start with , but in late days , the rover has cruise along flatter stretches of terrain , according to the statement .
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Perseverance has discharge four science campaigns so far on Mars , and the crater rise is the start of a 5th called the Crater Rim Campaign . The wanderer is on the hunting for signs of ancient spirit and clue about the former story of the Red Planet . It has already made potentially groundbreaking discoveries , includingancient lake sediments that could hold in microbial fossils .
Freya Castle is one of several challenging rocks spotted by Perseverance on the Jezero crater . In June , NASA received image showing anunusually low-cal - colored bouldernear the crater ’s Mount Washburn , and in July , the federal agency acquired photographs of aleopard - spot rock defy tantalizing cluesabout ancientlife on Mars .
scientist hope the zebra rock candy will be one of many discoveries during the rover ’s fifth mission . " As we start the Crater Rim Campaign , our rover is in excellent stipulation , and the squad is raring to see what ’s on the roof of this place , " Art Thompson , the Perseverance project manager at NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California , said in anearlier statementAug . 14 .
