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WIRED
25-04-2025
- Science
- WIRED
NASA's Perseverance Rover Finds Strange Rocks on Mars
Apr 25, 2025 1:51 PM A rock containing many smaller round stones could indicate that there was once a large amount of liquid water on the Red Planet. The NASA rover Perseverance recently discovered a strange rock on Mars, which appears to be made up of small rounded stones a few hundred millimeters in diameter. NASA's research team is trying to determine its origin. Perseverance was launched in July 2020 with the mission of searching for traces of microorganisms that may have existed on Mars in ancient times. It carries seven scientific instruments, including SuperCam, which uses cameras, lasers, and spectrometers to study the Martian surface, and Mastcam-Z, a camera with a special filter to increase resolution, which is used to record high-definition video as well as panoramic color and 3D images. The rover is exploring the Jezero Crater, a region of Mars thought to have once been a river delta. This is not the first time such a strange rock has been discovered on the Red Planet. In the past, Martian rovers have discovered a number of strange objects that could hold important clues as to the geological history of Mars. A selfie taken by NASA's Perseverance rover. This photograph is a composite of 59 images taken by its WATSON camera, which is mounted on an arm. PHOTOGRAPH: NASA/JPL-CALTECH/MSSS It was early March 2025 when Perseverance arrived at Broom Point on Witch Hazel Hill, on the rim of the Jezero Crater. Satellite observations had shown alternating stripes of light-colored and dark-colored rock in this area. In late March, Perseverance excavated one of the light-colored formations and collected a sample. In the process it discovered the strange rock—which has been named 'St. Paul's Bay.' A photo of the St. Paul's Bay rock, the darker object on the right of the image. This photo was taken by Perseverance on March 13, 2025, using Mastcam-Z. PHOTOGRAPH: NASA/JPL-CALTECH/ASU According to the Perseverance team, St. Paul's Bay is a 'float' rock—that is, a rock that should not exist at this location. But what created this rock formation on Mars, and how it came to be located in this region, remains unknown. This rock appears to be made up of smaller, round, dark gray stones each several hundred millimeters in size. The shapes of these small round stones vary: Some are oval-shaped, some have sharp edges, and some have small holes in them. It's possible that these spherules are concretions—formations created by groundwater moving through pores in a rock, which suggests that there might have once been abundant liquid water on Mars. However, on Earth these spherules are also created when molten rock cools rapidly, for example after a volcanic eruption. The Perseverance science team is investigating the origin of the small round stones that make up St. Paul's Bay. It is possible that they are derived from a dark-colored stripe of rock formation observed nearby. A magnified view of the St. Paul's Bay rock. This photo was taken by Perseverance on March 11, 2025, with the Remote Micro Imager (RMI) on its SuperCam. PHOTOGRAPH: NASA/JPL-CALTECH/LANL/CNES/IRAP. NASA's Mars rovers have also discovered a number of other strange rocks during their missions. The first pictured below were nicknamed 'blueberries' and were found by the rover Opportunity. They were discovered near Fram Crater, which Opportunity explored during April 2004. Opportunity launched in July 2003 and landed on the Meridiani Plain on Mars' equator in January 2004. Opportunity continued to explore Mars for more than 15 years until its mission ended in February 2007. The blueberries are said to be rich in hematite, a type of iron oxide (Fe 2 O 3 ). Nicknamed 'blueberries,' these Martian rocks were photographed by NASA's Opportunity rover using a microscopic imager (MI) and panoramic camera. PHOTOGRAPH: NASA/JPL-CALTECH/CORNELL/USGS Next was a formation discovered by NASA's rover Curiosity, in which many small round stones are visible. This formation is part of a formation called the 'sheepbed,' exposed in an area on Mars called Yellowknife Bay. These small round pebbles are often found in other parts of the sheepbed as well. Curiosity was launched in November 2011 and continues to explore Mars. Curiosity photographed the 'sheepbed' formation in Yellowknife Bay, a shallow basin located within Gale Crater, just south of the Martian equator. PHOTOGRAPH: NASA/JPL-CALTECH/MSSS The final image below is of a sedimentary rock formation with a 'popcorn' texture, discovered by Perseverance. After completing its exploration of a part of the Jezero Crater called Mt. Washburn, Perseverance headed north and reached an area in the Neretva Valley called Bright Angel, where layered, light-colored rocks are exposed on the surface. It was here that Perseverance discovered this strangely textured rock formation, which also contains small rounded stones. Perseverance took this photo in the Neretva Valley in June 2024 using its Mastcam-Z. PHOTOGRAPH: NASA/JPL-CALTECH/ASU This story originally appeared on WIRED Japan and has been translated from Japanese.
WIRED
11-02-2025
- Science
- WIRED
It's Spring on Mars—and That Means Violently Explosive Geysers and Avalanches
Because its axis of rotation is tilted at about 25 degrees, Mars has four seasons, just like Earth. However, a year on Mars is about 687 Earth days long, making each season longer than those on our planet. The northern hemisphere of Mars ended its four-season year on November 12, 2024, ushering in a new spring. However, the arrival of this season on the Red Planet is not as gentle as it is here. 'All of the phenomena that occur are explosive,' says Selina Diniega, who studies the planet's surface at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Because the Martian atmosphere is so dilute, frozen water and carbon dioxide on the planet's surface change directly from solid to gas as temperatures rise. This results in a very active springtime. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched in August 2005, surveys Mars from above the planet's surface. ILLUSTRATION: NASA/JPL-CALTECH The following are some images taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter—illustrated above—that capture the explosive arrival of the new season. A Martian avalanche. PHOTOGRAPH: NASA/JPL-CALTECH/UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA The above image shows a 20-meter-long chunk of frozen carbon dioxide falling off a cliff. Rising temperatures during the Martian spring cause ice to crack and break, making avalanches common. 'Thanks to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been observing Mars for nearly 20 years, we are able to capture dramatic scenes like these,' Diniega says. This particular photo was taken by the orbiter in 2015. When sunlight hits carbon dioxide ice, the light passes through the frozen material and heats the ground below it, causing the ice closest to the ground to sublimate from a solid to a gas. The pressure of this gas builds up until an eruption occurs, launching carbon dioxide, sand, and dust into the Martian atmosphere. The best time to see these dark, fan-shaped geysers will be around December 2025, when spring arrives in the southern hemisphere, where geysers are larger and more visible. When the frozen carbon dioxide has all melted in the summer, distinctive marks are revealed on the Martian landscape. These are known as 'araneidoform terrain,' because they look like spiders when seen from space. Some of these spider-like landforms are more than a kilometer across, and some have hundreds of legs. They are often found in swarms. The image above was taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter when viewing the southern hemisphere in 2009. The processes that create these spidery formations aren't fully understood, though JPL is working on mimicking the temperatures and pressures of Mars to re-create them. The diameter of the Martian northern polar ice cap is about 1,000 kilometers, which is roughly the size of Texas. This image was taken by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, an earlier probe, launched in 1996, which has completed its operations. PHOTOGRAPH: NASA/JPL-CALTECH/MSSS The arrival of spring on Mars also brings strong winds, and it's believed that the characteristic spiral pattern of Mars' north polar cap has been created over many years by winds blowing from the cap's center to its periphery. The spiral pattern is due to the Coriolis effect, which is when a planet's rotation bends the course of winds. The darker parts of the spiral are actually deep canyons, which have been cut over a long period by the springtime winds. The Chasma Boreale, which is visible to the right of the center of the polar cap in the image, is particularly spectacular. It is as long as the Grand Canyon (about 450 kilometers) and up to 2 kilometers deep. The strong spring winds also move sand dunes on the Martian surface, just like winds do in deserts on Earth. The white stuff you see in the image is frost surrounding the elevated dunes, which remain static while frozen. When temperatures rise in spring and this ice melts, the dunes will start moving again due to the action of the wind. 'As we've seen, the onset of spring on Mars is very active. You could even say 'explosive,' Diniega says. 'I imagine it would be very noisy, with things cracking and exploding.' This story originally appeared on WIRED Japan and has been translated from Japanese.
