NASA’s Mars rover has spotted rare local rocks found in the Grand Canyon

The most advanced rover we’ve ever sent to Mars, NASA’s Perseverance mission, landed on the planet on February 18, 2021. The mission’s main goal is to detect any trace of life, even a microbial form, in the Red Planet’s distant past. .

The rover is located in the 45-kilometre-diameter Jezero Crater, where there is a lake fed by the waters of one or more rivers that form a delta, increasing the chances of some life forms developing there. The rover’s main mission is to locate rocks that NASA experts consider “interesting” to drill, collect and store samples. These samples will be captured by the next mission that is scheduled to go to Mars to take these samples and return them to Earth for study.

with advertisement NASA reported that the rover reached an area of ​​the crater near Mount Washburn, which is located in the crater and which was called “Bright Angels.” It is believed that an ancient river flowed through this area in Mars’ distant past.
There, the spacecraft spotted a rare, light-colored rock from the Red Planet that it named “Atoko Point” after a similar-looking geological structure found in the Grand Canyon.

characteristics

The rock’s width is estimated at 45 cm and its height is 35 cm. Using the rover’s instruments, NASA scientists confirmed that the rock is composed of pyroxene and feldspar. NASA experts speculate that the rocks may have been transported from a different part of the planet by river or formed underground from a layer of magma before finally surfacing through erosion.

“The geodiversity at Mount Washburn was an exciting discovery for the team, as these rocks represent a collection of geological gifts spread across the crater rim and perhaps beyond,” said Brad Jarzynski, the Western Washington University scientist who led the study. Study of the team of experts who study the results of the vehicle.

The researchers added that although the Atuku Point rock is “the first of its kind to be found on Mars, it certainly will not be the last” as the rover continues its exploration. It now remains for the mission members to decide whether the vehicle will approach the rock and collect samples from it to return with the rest to Earth.

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