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Nasa’s Perseverance Mars rover has found a never-before-seen light-toned boulder in a discipline of darkish rocks, a discovering that sheds new mild on the Crimson Planet’s geology.
The rover encountered the rock because it traversed Neretva Vallis, a area thought to include proof of an historical river that existed billions of years in the past.
Perseverance had modified course to keep away from tough terrain, going via a dune discipline to succeed in a hill referred to as Mount Washburn.
Photos taken by the rover alongside its new path present the hill is roofed with boulders, a few of which Nasa described as “a kind by no means noticed earlier than on Mars”.
One of many boulders, about 18 inches throughout and 14 inches tall, was peculiarly light-toned rock in a discipline of darker boulders.
Researchers mentioned the boulder is “in a league of its personal” amongst Martian rocks.
On the base of the brand new location, the rover additionally noticed rocky light-toned outcrops that possible symbolize both historical rock uncovered by river erosion or sediments that crammed the channel.
“The variety of textures and compositions at Mount Washburn was an thrilling discovery for the workforce, as these rocks symbolize a seize bag of geologic items introduced down from the crater rim and probably past,” Brad Garczynski, co-lead of the Perseverance mission, mentioned in an announcement.
“However amongst all these totally different rocks, there was one that actually caught our consideration.”
The unusual boulder, nicknamed Atoko Level, was discovered to be made up of minerals pyroxene and feldspar by devices aboard the rover.
Some scientists suspect that these minerals possible got here from magma beneath the Martian floor.
Others say it could have been produced on a special a part of Mars and moved alongside the traditional river channel to its current location.
“Both manner, the workforce believes that whereas Atoko is the primary of its variety they’ve seen, it gained’t be the final,” Nasa mentioned.
The current discovery was made because the Perseverance rover appears for deposits containing the minerals carbonate and olivine in a area on Mars referred to as the “Margin Unit”.
These minerals are of curiosity to researchers as they’re recognized to encapsulate remnants of the previous for lengthy intervals, which means there’s a a lot larger likelihood of discovering indicators of historical alien life on Mars in these deposits.
The rover is presently assessing whether or not a rock core pattern must be collected on this area, in response to Nasa.
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