“The science team thinks that this rock has a texture unlike any seen in Jezero Crater before, and perhaps all of Mars.”
While the team’s knowledge of the rock’s chemical composition is limited, early interpretations are that igneous and/or metamorphic processes could have created its stripes.
Since Freya Castle is a loose stone clearly different from the underlying bedrock, it has likely arrived here from somewhere else, perhaps having rolled downhill from a source higher up.
“This possibility has us excited, and we hope that as we continue to drive uphill, Perseverance will encounter an outcrop of this new rock type so that more detailed measurements can be acquired,” added NASA.
The find excited internet users. Science fans on the Reddit site commented, “That looks like one of those fake rocks with a hole to hide your key in,” and “Zebrock: everybody freeze! There is an alien camera filming us.”
Produced in association with SWNS Talker