NASA’s Perseverance rover, better known as Percy, was designed to explore the Lake Crater on Mars 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 vital information ever since.
Recently, the rover attracted huge scientific interest because it spotted something truly exciting and unusual – a white, unique rock sitting on the surface of Mount Washburn, inside the massive Lake Crater.
More information: NASA
NASA’s Perseverance rover, which has been on Mars since February 2021, recently found a unique rock called Atoko Point.
Image credit: NASA
Image credit: NASA
Image credit: NASA
Image credit: NASA
Images of the bright boulder with dark spots reached scientists on May 27, 2024, on the 1,162nd Martian day, or solu, of the mission. Due to its uniqueness, the 18 x 14 inch (45 x 35 cm) rock was named “Atoko Point” in reference to the eastern Grand Canyon.
Analysis by Perseverance’s SuperCam and Mastcam-Z showed that Atoko Point is composed of such minerals as pyroxene and feldspar.
“In terms of the size, shape and arrangement of its mineral grains and crystals – and potentially its chemical composition – Atoko Point is in a league of its own,” NASA said in a press release.
“The variety of textures and compositions at Mount Washburn was an exciting discovery for the team because these rocks represent a bag of geologic gifts brought down from and potentially beyond the crater rim,” added Brad Garczynski of Western Washington University, research team. 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 there seem to be at least two different hypotheses at this point.
One group of researchers suggests that Atoko Point was formed in a subsurface body of magma that is now likely exposed at the rim of the crater, and another part of the team believes that the rock was formed far beyond the walls of the 28-mile-wide Crater Lake and was transported there by “swift Martian waters ” eons ago.
“In any case, the team believes that while Atoko is the first of its kind that they have seen, it will not be the last,” NASA said.
The unusual rock was found on the surface of Mount Washburn, a hill inside Crater Lake
Image credit: NASA
Image credit: NASA
Image credit: NASA
Image credit: NASA
The Perseverance mission’s main focus on Mars is astrobiology, searching for signs of ancient life and collecting rock and regolith samples for possible return to Earth.
NASA’s Perseverance rover is exploring Crater Lake – a huge area on the Red Planet where an ancient environment could have created the perfect conditions for microbial life. Equipped with a new Martian rock sampling subsystem, Percy may yield possible evidence of past life.
Although Perseverance has a similar design to its predecessor, Curiosity, it has been slightly improved: it carries 7 main payload instruments, 23 cameras (9 engineering, 7 science and 7 input, descent, landing) and 2 microphones.
Image credit: NASA
Image credit: NASA
Two scientific instruments mounted on the rover’s robotic arm allow it to analyze the chemical, mineral, physical and organic properties of Martian rocks and determine the best places to collect samples, while high-resolution imaging and three types of spectroscopy for remote rock and soil characterization help Percy determine which rocks examine targets closely. The collected samples are later sealed in tubes and stored in the rover’s chassis so that a future mission can retrieve them for in-depth analysis on Earth.
“In the belly of the rover is all the equipment and supplies needed to collect samples. It contains a rotating drill carousel, which is a wheel that contains different types of drills,” NASA explained.
“While the rover’s large arm reaches out and drills into the rock, the rover’s belly is home to a small robotic arm that acts as a ‘lab assistant’ to the large arm. A small arm will pick up and move new sample tubes into the drill and transfer the filled sample containers to an area where they are sealed and stored,” they added.
The rover also carried a mini-helicopter called Ingenuity, an experimental technology test station that made the first flight of a powered aircraft on another planet, however on 18 January 2024 it made its 72nd and final flight and due to landing damage to its rotor blades, had to be NASA retired.
Analysis by the rover’s SuperCam and Mastcam-Z instruments shows that Atoko Point is composed of pyroxene and feldspar minerals.
Image credit: ESA
Image credit: SETI Institute
Image credit: NASA
Image credit: NASA
Over the years, 6 rovers operated on Mars: Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity, Curiosity and Perseverance (Percy), controlled by the American NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Zhurong, managed by the China National Space Administration.
Regardless of the technical differences, they all were focused on the 4 main long-term goals of the Mars exploration program:
- to find out if there was ever life on Mars;
- characterize the climate on the Red Planet;
- characterize the geology of Mars;
- prepare for human exploration.
Although Perseverance was designed to last only a few years on Mars, it is very likely to survive predictions, as its twin Curiosity, for example, is still going strong after nearly 11 years of wandering.
The main reason for its longevity could be that both of these rovers use a nuclear power source instead of solar panels, which can stop working when covered in dust or when the sun is obscured during dust storm season.
However, after completing the mission, Percy will not return to Earth, as there is no technology known to date to launch the rover back.
Image credit: NASA
Image credit: NASA
Image credit: NASA
As of 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 the Crater Lake.
While earlier rovers were focused on geology and understanding the Martian environment, Percy is looking for signs of past life, and the recent discovery of Atoko Point may certainly provide some clues.