NASA’s Perseverance rover, known as Percy, is designed to explore Mars’ Jezero Crater as part of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission. It successfully landed on the Red Planet on February 18, 2021 and has been providing scientists with crucial information ever since.
Recently, the rover attracted a lot of scientific attention because it discovered something truly exciting and unusual: a white, unique rock on the surface of Mount Washburn, inside the enormous Jezero Crater.
More info: NASA
NASA’s Perseverance rover, which has been on Mars since February 2021, recently found a unique rock called Atoko Point
Image credits: NASA
Image credits: NASA
Image credits: NASA
Image credits: NASA
The images of the light-colored rock with dark specks reached scientists on May 27, 2024, the 1,162nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The 45-by-35-centimeter (18-by-14-inch) rock was named “Atoko Point” for its uniqueness, in reference to the eastern Grand Canyon.
Analyses from Perseverance’s SuperCam and Mastcam-Z show that Atoko Point is composed of minerals such as pyroxene and feldspar.
“In terms of the size, shape and arrangement of its mineral grains and crystals – and possibly also its chemical composition – Atoko Point is in a class of its own,” NASA said in their press release.
“The diversity of textures and compositions at Mount Washburn was an exciting discovery for the team, as these rocks represent a grab bag of geologic gifts brought from the crater rim and possibly even beyond,” added Brad Garczynski of Western Washington University, the research team’s co-leader.
While the rock is attracting attention for its appearance and chemical composition, the scientific team is also trying to figure out where Atoko Point came from, and it seems there are at least two different hypotheses at this point.
One group of researchers suggests that Atoko Point was created in a subsurface magma body that may now be exposed on the crater rim, and the other part of the team believes the rock originated well outside the walls of the 45-mile-wide Jezero Crater and was transported there eons ago by the “fast Martian waters.”
“Either way, the team believes that while Atoko is the first of its kind they have seen, it won’t be the last,” NASA said.
The unusual rock was found on the surface of Mount Washburn, a hill in Jezero Crater
Image credits: NASA
Image Credit: NASA
Image credits: NASA
Image Credit: NASA
The main goal of Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology. The search is on for signs of ancient life and samples of rock and regolith are being collected for a possible return to Earth.
NASA’s Perseverance rover explores the Jezero Crater – a huge area on the Red Planet where the ancient environment may have created the perfect conditions for microbial life. Equipped with a new subsystem for collecting samples of Martian rocks, Percy could potentially bring evidence of past life.
Although Perseverance has a similar design to its predecessor, Curiosity, it has been slightly improved: it has 7 primary instruments, 23 cameras (9 engineering, 7 scientific and 7 for entry, descent and landing) and 2 microphones.
Image Credits: NASA
Image credits: NASA
Two science instruments on the rover’s robotic arm will analyze the chemical, mineral, physical, and organic properties of Martian rocks and determine the best locations to collect samples, while high-resolution imaging and three types of spectroscopy will characterize the rocks and soils. From a distance, help Percy determine which rock targets to explore up close. The collected samples will later be sealed in tubes and stored in the rover’s chassis, ready for a future mission to retrieve for in-depth analysis on Earth.
“The belly of the rover houses all the equipment and supplies needed to collect samples. It contains a rotating drill carousel, a wheel with different types of drill bits,” NASA explains.
“While the rover’s big arm extends and drills into rocks, in the belly of the rover is a small robotic arm that works as a ‘lab assistant’ for the big arm. The small arm picks up new sample tubes and moves them to the drill, and transfers the filled sample containers to an area where they are sealed and stored,” she added.
The rover also carried the Ingenuity mini-helicopter, an experimental technology testbed that made the first powered aircraft flight on another planet. However, on January 18, 2024, it made its 72nd and final flight and had to be withdrawn from service by NASA due to damage to the rotor blades during landing.
Analysis by the rover’s SuperCam and Mastcam-Z instruments indicates that Atoko Point is composed of the minerals pyroxene and feldspar
Image credits: ESA
Image Credits: SETI Institute
Image Credits: NASA
Image Credits: NASA
Over the years, six rovers have operated on Mars: Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity, Curiosity and Perseverance (Percy), operated by the American NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Zhurong, managed by the China National Space Administration.
Regardless of the technical differences, they all have been focused on the four key long-term goals of the Mars Exploration Program:
- to find out if there was ever life on Mars;
- characterize the climate of the Red Planet;
- characterize the geology of Mars;
- prepare for human exploration.
Although Perseverance was designed to stay on Mars for only a few years, it has a good chance of outlasting predictions. Its twin, Curiosity, for example, is still active after nearly 11 years of wandering around.
The main reason for their longevity could be that both rovers use a nuclear power source instead of solar panels, which can stop working if they are covered in dust or if the sun is too weak during dust storm season.
But after the mission is completed, Percy doesn’t come back to Earth as there is no known technology yet to launch the rover back.
Image credits: NASA
Image Credits: NASA
Image Credit: NASA
Since 2021, NASA’s Perseverance rover has made remarkable discoveries about the Red Planet’s surface, including its volcanic history, climate and the role of water in Jezero Crater.
While the previous rovers focused on geology and understanding Mars’ environment, Percy is looking for signs of past life and the recent discovery of Atoko Point could certainly provide some clues.