NASA has released its clearest view of Mars yet, releasing images of stunning blue rocks scattered across the landscape of the famous 'red planet'. The images, taken by the Perseverance rover, showed a unique, never-before-seen geological formation located on the dry bottom of an ancient Martian lake.

Among the rocks spotted, large irregular blocks of dark blue volcanic basalt stand out, surrounding a mottled white rock, whose mineral composition surprised the NASA team. These discoveries were captured in the area that the North American space agency named “Mount Washburn”, after a mountain in Yellowstone National Park in the United States of America.

The Perseverance rover, a remote-controlled, car-sized mobile laboratory, has been exploring the dusty Jezero Crater basin since February 2021. This crater, 45 kilometers in diameter, was the site of an ancient lake about 3.7 billion years old. With traces of Paleolago and the river delta.

The soft clay sediments, carried by the rivers that used to flow into the crater, are of particular interest to NASA, which believes that Jezero could be an environment ripe for life outside Earth. The mission's goal is to investigate these materials and search for possible signs of ancient microbial life.

The discovery of such distinct rocks in the Martian soil aroused the curiosity of scientists, as explained by NASA planetary geologist Dr. Katie Stack Morgan, quoted by the Daily Mail. “Every now and then, we find something strange in the Martian landscape and the team decides to explore further,” Morgan explained.

Most of the dark blue rocks seen on Mars, including those observed on Mount Washburn, are made of volcanic basalt, said planetary scientist and geophysicist Dr. Jeffrey Taylor of the University of Hawaii. According to Taylor, these rocks are similar to terrestrial tholeiite rocks, which make up much of the oceans and mid-ocean ridges on Earth.

However, it was a speckled white rock that caught scientists' attention. Found among volcanic rocks, the rock is nicknamed “Atoko Point.” It is about 45 centimeters wide and 35 centimeters high. It was named after a cliff with a height of more than 2,400 meters in the Grand Canyon in the United States of America.

Dr. Katie Stack Morgan, who was surprised by the discovery, described the moment as “a clear example of… [perseguir] Something bright and eye-catching, because the rock was incredibly white and clear. The images were captured by Perseverance's Mastcam-Z, an array of 3D cameras mounted on a two-metre-tall mast, which provides a view similar to that of the human eye.

Chemical analysis reveals an unprecedented discovery

Detailed analysis of the Atoko Point rock is made possible by Perseverance's suite of instruments, including SuperCam, which combines two lasers and four spectrometers to analyze the chemical composition of the rock. Using this technique, the NASA team discovered that the white rock was composed of anorthosite, a type of volcanic rock rich in feldspar.

This discovery is important because until then, the presence of anorthosite on Mars was only theoretical and had never been documented. The composition indicates that the rocks may have originated in deeper layers beneath the surface of Mars, before they were brought to the surface.

“Seeing a rock like Atuku Point is evidence of anorthosites on Mars,” Dr. Stack Morgan said. “This could be a sample of material from the planet's lower crust.” The scientist, who is deputy project manager for the Mars 2020 mission, hopes that the new discoveries will help better understand what lies beneath the surface of Mars and how the planet was formed.

An important step towards revealing the geological history of Mars

The presence of anorthosite on Mars could provide important information about the early formation of the Martian crust. According to Dr. Stack Morgan, this type of rock, if found in larger quantities, could help clarify whether “Atoko Point” was transported to the crater via ancient rivers or whether it was formed by deep volcanic activity and exposed due to… The impact it caused. Jezero Crater thousands of years ago.

With more discoveries like this, scientists hope to build a more detailed narrative about the geological history of Mars and determine whether the planet once had conditions suitable to support life. “If we see this rock in the context of other formations, it could give us an idea of ​​how the early crust of Mars formed,” Stack Morgan concluded.