NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover recently discovered a strange "zebra rock" on Mars' Jezero crater that's nothing like any rock seen on the Red Planet before. This could be "a sign of exciting discoveries to come," the US space agency wrote in a blog post. The rover captured the images of the black-and-white striped rock earlier this month using a camera mounted high on its mast. The team said that they spotted the rock in the distance "with hints of an unusual texture" in low-resolution images while driving across "unremarkable pebbly terrain".
According to the statement, the rock, which scientists dubbed "Freya Castle", has a never-before-seen texture. "The science team thinks that this rock has a texture unlike any seen in Jezero Crater before, and perhaps all of Mars. Our knowledge of its chemical composition is limited, but early interpretations are that igneous and/or metamorphic processes could have created its stripes," NASA wrote.
The agency said the funky-looking rock is around 20 cm across, and has a striking pattern with alternating black and white stripes. It is a loose stone that is clearly different from the underlying bedrock, NASA said, adding that it "likely arrived from someplace else, perhaps having rolled downhill from a source higher up".
NASA's statement continued, "This possibility has us excited, and we hope that as we continue to drive uphill, Perseverance will encounter an outcrop of this new rock type so that more detailed measurements can be acquired."
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Perseverance Rover first landed in Jezero Crater in February 2021 and is searching for rocks that could provide information and insight into Mars' ancient history. It is currently climbing the Jezero crater's steep slopes. In recent days, the rover has cruised along flatter stretches of terrain, according to the statement.
Perseverance has completed four science campaigns so far on Mars, and the crater ascent is the start of a fifth called the Crater Rim Campaign. The rover is on the hunt for signs of ancient life and clues about the early history of the Red Planet. It has already made potentially groundbreaking discoveries, including ancient lake sediments that could contain microbial fossils.
Freya Castle is one of several intriguing rocks spotted by Perseverance on the Jezero crater.
