Mars Perseverance rover discovered a circular area of rock that had never seen the hazy light of Martian day before. This happened for the first time nearly nine months after landing in Jezero Crater, a dried-up lake bed on Mars.
"Layered rocks like this often form in water, and can hold clues about what their environment used to be like. Let's see if this would be another good place for #SamplingMars," read a November 4 post from the rover's Facebook account, run by NASA.
After chiseling away at the rocks, the rover returned photographs that revealed what lay behind the rusty top layer: a slew of granular minerals and sediments.
"Peering inside to look at something no one's ever seen. I've abraded a small patch of this rock to remove the surface layer and get a look underneath. Zeroing in on my next target for #SamplingMars," the Perseverance Facebook post added on November 9.
Since the 1970s, NASA has been studying the rocky planet. However, these kind of missions continues to provide us with fresh information about the Martian planet.
Rocks at Jezero Crater, which was formerly the site of a lake 3.7 billion years ago, function as an unspoiled old time capsule. They can tell scientists about the formation of the rocks and the environment at the period. It might provide us a bird's-eye view of what the lake and its river delta looked like when the planet was warmer and wetter - and potentially livable.
NASA Mars Perseverance Rover Cleanly Cuts This Rock Sample
CNET (via MSN News) said NASA Mars Perseverance rover investigated a rock from the Jezero Crater while gathering samples when it saw something interesting.
In reality, despite early difficulties, the Perseverance rover has successfully gathered two rock samples. Aside from that, NASA's robot on Mars continues to study the planet's rocky topography, which includes drilling activities.
This Sept. 1 image from NASA’s Perseverance rover shows a sample tube with its cored-rock contents inside. The bronze-colored outer-ring is the coring bit. The lighter-colored inner-ring is the open end of the tube, and inside is a rock core sample slightly thicker than a pencil. In a later image, the rock sample was not clearly evident inside the tube.
ALSO READ: NASA Mars Ingenuity Helicopter Reunites With Perseverance After Completing Flight 14, 15
The Perseverance Mars Rover was using an abrading tool to rub the surface of the layered rock it came upon while searching for more rock samples.
The rover is roughening up the rock's surface by rubbing it with its robotic arms. It's done by the robot to see if the sample is worth retaining.
Perseverance Rover Saw An Unusual Encounter
Surprisingly, Perseverance Rover saw this unusual encounter while out rock hunting.
NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover also updated a Twitter post containing the details from the November 9 Facebook post in the first-person point of view.
Peering inside to look at something no one’s ever seen. I’ve abraded a small patch of this rock to remove the surface layer and get a look underneath. Zeroing in on my next target for #SamplingMars.
More pics here for fellow rock lovers: https://t.co/Ex1QDo3eC2 pic.twitter.com/qfIRs3MYyI— NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) November 9, 2021
The Mars Rover's tweet went on to say that it was doing so while it searched for the next target for rock sample on the Red Planet.
The Mars Rover, on the other hand, revealed in a tweet that throughout the procedure, the robot was able to see something distinctive on the rock's surface.
A close-up of the rock surface is shown in one of the photographs from the tweet, which includes a white-colored triangle speck from the sample that the Rover abraded.
RELATED ARTICLE: NASA Mars Curiosity Rover Finds Organic Molecules on Martian Soil for the First Time; What Did Experts Say?
Check out more news and information on Space in Science Times.
