NASA’s Perseverance Has Seen a Lot of Rocks—But Not One Like This

• A possible sample from an ancient asteroid
• A surprising first for Perseverance

NASA’s Perseverance rover has seen its fair share of rocks, and most are unremarkable. Once in a while, however, Perseverance stumbles upon something exotic. That’s precisely what happened during the rover’s recent investigation of the bedrock at “Vernodden.”

While exploring this site along the rim of the Jezero Crater, Perseverance encountered an oddly shaped rock about 31 inches (80 centimeters) wide, according to NASA. Now named “Phippsaksla,” it caught the attention of Perseverance’s handlers due to its sculpted, high-standing appearance, rising sharply above the flat, fragmented rocks surrounding it.

Further investigations are required to determine the true nature of Phippsaksla, but a preliminary analysis of its composition suggests it may be a meteorite rich in iron and nickel. This type of meteorite is less commonly found on Earth but dominates the small number of meteorites that rovers have found on Mars. Still, finding one near the Jezero Crater is a first for Perseverance.

A possible sample from an ancient asteroid

Perseverance used its SuperCam instrument to reveal Phippsaksla’s composition. This tool examines rocks and soils with a camera, laser, and spectrometers to identify their chemical and mineral components.

The combination of elements Perseverance found is typically associated with iron-nickel meteorites, suggesting Phippsaksla hails from somewhere else in the solar system.

These meteorites are samples from the cores of ancient worlds. Asteroids that melted early on in their history formed iron and nickel cores as these dense elements sank to the center. Iron-nickel meteorites are fragments of those cores, freed by collisions between their parent asteroid and other celestial bodies.

Other Mars rovers have found several while exploring the Red Planet. Curiosity has identified many in the Gale Crater, including the one-foot-wide “Cacao” meteorite found in 2023. Both of the twin Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, also found iron-nickel meteorites during their missions.

A surprising first for Perseverance

It’s somewhat surprising that it took Perseverance this long to find an iron-nickel meteorite, especially considering that its primary exploration area, the Jezero Crater, is roughly the same age as the Gale Crater. What’s more, a number of smaller impact craters within Jezero suggest meteorites did impact the crater floor, delta, and rim throughout its history.

But again, additional analysis will need to confirm that Phippsaksla is actually an iron-nickel meteorite. In addition to SuperCam, Perseverance is equipped with other instruments capable of analyzing rock samples in situ, such as PIXL (Planetary Instrument for X-Ray Lithochemistry). This tool could provide a more refined picture of Phippsaksla’s chemistry.

Perseverance is also the first Mars rover capable of collecting and caching rock samples for a potential return to Earth, and it’s possible that it could add a chunk of Phippsaksla to its collection. NASA has tentative plans to retrieve Perseverance’s samples, but the future of the Mars Sample Return mission is currently uncertain.

Phippsaksla has certainly caught NASA’s attention, and we should learn more about this specimen as the Perseverance team continues to probe its exotic chemistry.  With no end in sight to the rover’s mission, there’s no telling what this intrepid explorer will find next.