NASA’s Perseverance Rover Finds Strange Rocks on Mars

Satellite observations had shown alternating stripes of light-colored and dark-colored stone successful this area. In precocious March, Perseverance excavated 1 of the light-colored formations and collected a sample. In the process it discovered the unusual rock—which has been named “St. Paul's Bay.”

According to the Perseverance team, St. Paul’s Bay is simply a “float” rock—that is, a stone that should not beryllium astatine this location. But what created this stone enactment connected Mars, and however it came to beryllium located successful this region, remains unknown. This stone appears to beryllium made up of smaller, round, acheronian grey stones each respective 100 millimeters successful size. The shapes of these tiny circular stones vary: Some are oval-shaped, immoderate person crisp edges, and immoderate person tiny holes successful them.

It’s imaginable that these spherules are concretions—formations created by groundwater moving done pores successful a rock, which suggests that determination mightiness person erstwhile been abundant liquid h2o connected Mars. However, connected Earth these spherules are besides created erstwhile molten stone cools rapidly, for illustration aft a volcanic eruption. The Perseverance subject squad is investigating the root of the tiny circular stones that marque up St. Paul’s Bay. It is imaginable that they are derived from a dark-colored stripe of stone enactment observed nearby.