Mysterious ‘doughnut-shaped’ rock found on Mars by Nasa Rover
Nasa’s Perseverance rover has spotted a very unusual rock on the surface of Mars - it’s shaped like a large doughnut.
The rock was spotted using the rover’s remote microscopic imager (RMI), part of the SuperCam instrument.
Nasa says, "Oddly shaped rocks aren't uncommon, either on Earth or Mars; they're often formed over aeons as winds sandblast rock faces.
"This particular rock may have formed after a smaller rock (or multiple rocks) eroded near its centre. That left behind a cavity that was later enlarged by the wind."
Nasa's Perseverance Mars rover captured this doughnut-shaped rock in Jezero Crater from about 100 metres (328 feet) on 22 June – the 832nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission.
A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life.
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The rover will characterise the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).
Subsequent Nasa missions, in cooperation with European Space Agency (ESA), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.
The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of Nasa's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.
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Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.
SuperCam is led by Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, where the instrument's body unit was developed.
What types of rock are found on Mars?
Mars’ surface is largely covered with basalt, a volcanic rock which also covers much of Earth's surface as well.
Most of the rocks we have studied at Mars landing sites are basaltic.
Mars lacks granite, but has carbonate (limestone) which is also found on Earth.
Carbonate implies that there was once liquid water on Mars.
