(Web Desk) - NASA's Perseverance rover has discovered a highly unusual rock lying on the surface of Mars. The lumpy boulder, which has a metal-rich composition, is most likely a meteorite that crash-landed on the Red Planet — and it's the first one that Perseverance has found during its four-year mission scouring Mars rocks for signs of life.
Perseverance has found many different rocks since landing within Mars' Jezero crater in early 2021, including a "spider-egg" rock, an out-of-place "skull" and, most recently, a bizarre "turtle-shaped" formation. Some of these rocks have also yielded surprising results, such as strange nodules recently found in organic-rich samples, which could be the "clearest sign" yet of past extraterrestrial life on Mars.
Until now, the one thing that all the rocks surveyed by Perseverance had in common was that they originated on Mars. But on Sept. 19, during the 1,629th Sol (Martian day) of the rover's mission, the wandering robot came across an odd-looking boulder while exploring an area of Jezero dubbed "Vernodden." The unusual rock, which measures around 31 inches (80 centimeters) across, has since been named "Phippsaksla" — and is unlikely to have a Martian origin.
"This rock was identified as a target of interest based on its sculpted, high-standing appearance that differed from that of the low-lying, flat and fragmented surrounding rocks," Candice Bedford, a geochemist and mineralogist at Purdue University's Planetary Science department, wrote in a NASA statement.
Analysis of the rock revealed it has a high concentration of iron and nickel, which is unusual in Martian rocks. But these metals are commonly found in meteorites, "suggesting that this rock formed elsewhere in the solar system," Bedford wrote. It is unclear how long it has been on Mars, but it is likely millions, if not billions, of years old.
"This is not the first time a rover has encountered an exotic rock on Mars," Bedford wrote. In fact, three different NASA rovers — Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity — have found potential meteorites during their respective missions, she added. (Of these missions, only Curiosity is still active.)
"As such, it has been somewhat unexpected that Perseverance had not seen iron-nickel meteorites within Jezero crater, particularly given its similar age to Gale crater [where Curiosity currently resides]," Bedford wrote.
Despite finding the potential meteorite roughly two months ago, the discovery has only just been announced due to the recent U.S. government shutdown. The NASA statement about Phippsaksla was originally written on Oct.1, the same day the shutdown began, and was released on Nov. 13, the day after the government reopened.