Perseverance rover discovers mysterious striped rock on Mars

The Martian rover found the extraordinary striped rock on the slopes of the inner wall of the Jezero Crater. Scientists are excited about the discovery, which stands out strongly against the landscape. As reported by space.com, the unusual Martian rock has been named "Freya's Castle."

It looks completely different from the surrounding rocks. The Perseverance rover encountered it on September 13, 2024, during its journey up the inner wall of the massive Jezero Crater, which the rover has been exploring since landing on Mars in February 2021.

Perseverance took pictures of Freya's Castle with its Mastcam-Z instrument, which functions as its main "eyes." Even preliminary studies of the rock, which has a diameter of 8 inches, have already provided significant clues about its origin.

Our knowledge of its chemical composition is limited, but early interpretations are that igneous and/or metamorphic processes could have created its stripes, wrote Athanasios Klidaras, a doctoral student in planetary sciences at Purdue University, in a statement posted on the NASA Science website.

While a volcanic or metamorphic origin (meaning a type of rock transformed into another, usually under excessive temperature or pressure, and sometimes both) may explain the stripes on the rock's surface, it does not explain how Freya's Castle got to the location where the rover found it.

Undeniably, the striped rock stands out strongly against the other inconspicuous pebbles and rocks around it. One possible scenario suggests that the stone rolled down from a higher location, where a similar rock may be found.

The possibility has us excited, and we hope that as we continue to drive uphill, Perseverance will encounter an outcrop of this new rock type so that more detailed measurements can be acquired, emphasizes Klidaras.

In May 2024, Perseverance stumbled upon a boulder field called Mount Washburn, in addition to Freya's Castle. Most of the rocks appeared dark, typical of many similar rocks found on Mars, but one rock stood out particularly.

A light, speckled rock measuring 18 inches by 14 inches was named Atoko Point. Research conducted by the rover's instruments indicated that Atoko Point is composed of pyroxene and feldspar, which are commonly found in volcanic and metamorphic rocks on Earth.

Atoko Point likely also originated from further up the slope, and mission scientists expect to find many other strange rocks that rolled down from Martian hills, possibly after weathering from large exposures.