Perseverance has therefore resumed its treks on Martian soil, and each photo of the rover reveals its share of surprises. A month ago, NASA published incredibly clear views, and we discovered unexpected blue rocks! Except that at the time, all eyes were on a speckled rock in light tones. All we could see was it in the middle of a whole pile of rocks, and the specialists had decided to name it Atoko Point.
On the other hand, no one had really lingered on these blue rocks, posted in the middle of this area known as “Mount Washburn”. Most of the blue-black rocks visible on the surface of Mars, such as those on “Mount Washburn,” are volcanic basalt.
New evidence of the past presence of water
These rocks are similar to volcanic rock found beneath Earth’s oceans. “Mars is primarily composed of rocks similar to terrestrial basalts called tholeiites,” recalls planetary scientist and geophysicist G. Jeffrey Taylor of the University of Hawaii. “They make up most of the ocean islands, mid-ocean ridges, and seafloor.” under the sediment [sur Terre] ».
Clearly, this is a new clue to the presence of water at the bottom of this Jezero crater that the rover has been traveling for more than three years.
A piece of lower crust
As for the white, speckled rock, specialists classify it among anorthosites, which are also volcanic rocks, but richer in silica compounds. Which suggests that this stone may have emerged from underground depths deeper than the rocks surrounding it.
“Seeing a rock like Atoko Point is one of those clues that tells us that we do indeed have anorthosites on Mars,” Dr. Stack Morgan of NASA JPL told Mashable. “And this could be a sample of this lower crustal material. »
