NASA shocked by unusual rock on Mars: ‘It doesn’t belong there’

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientists have been startled by the latest discovery of the space agency’s rover on Mars.

The Perseverance rover has found a rock on the Martian surface that scientists believe “doesn’t belong there” and may have originated from somewhere else in the solar system, near the Jezero crater.

For the unversed, Jezero Crater is a 28-mile-area on Mars that some experts believe might have hosted life.

The sculpted rock measures 31 inches across, and its composition was measured using the Perseverance’s SuperCam instrument. The rock has been named Phippsaksla.

Using a powerful laser, the rover heated a small surface of the rock and detected unusually high quantities of nickel and iron.

No other rocks on Jezero Crater have such high quantities of metal content. “It indicates the rock was formed somewhere else in the solar system,” Perseverance operator and geologist Dr Candice Bedford wrote in a NASA blog.

An expert on meteor impacts from Imperial College London, Professor Gareth Collins, said, “Meteorites striking Martian surfaces are very common. One out of 20 are rich in nickel and iron.”

NASA’s Curiosity and Spirit have found rocks with high metallic content in different craters; however, this is the first that Perseverance has discovered a rock with this composition of Jezero Crater.