NASA’s Perseverance rover has made an unexpected discovery on Mars, finding a strange field of bright white rocks while exploring the rim of Jezero Crater. This intriguing discovery has captured the attention of mission scientists, adding another layer of mystery to the rover’s ongoing exploration of the Red Planet.
While bright white rocks are not uncommon on Earth, they are a rare sight on Mars, where volcanic rocks are typically darker in color. To investigate their composition, the Perseverance team has employed a range of remote sensing tools, including multispectral imaging and laser transmission. However, the scattered nature and small size of the rocks have made it difficult to study them more closely with the rover’s robotic arms. Scientists are hopeful that larger blocks or outcrops of this unusual material will be uncovered as the rover ascends the steep slopes of the crater.
The first of these enigmatic white pebbles, dubbed “Atoko Point” after a similar light-colored feature in the Grand Canyon, was spotted on May 27. It stood out starkly against the backdrop of darker boulders scattered around it in a region known as Mist Park.
As Perseverance climbed upwards, the rover spotted more white stones along the track. These were smaller than Atoko Point but still distinct in their brightness and color. They are made of a different material than the underlying bedrock, which has led some scientists to speculate that they are erosional remnants of a resistant vein or rock layer that has worn away over time or perhaps tumbled down from a higher rock exposure.
Several other rocks also contain swirling, opalescent patterns of fracture halos — a telltale sign that water once soaked into the material and caused chemical reactions to produce these beautiful shapes. However, the Perseverance team is not yet convinced that this phenomenon hints at evidence of past life on Mars.
To better understand the chemical makeup of these rocks, the rover used its Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument. This device measures neutrons, which are knocked off the Martian surface by cosmic rays—high-energy particles from outside the solar system that constantly bombard the Red Planet. DAN detects a more significant proportion of slow-moving neutrons in areas where hydrogen, one of the water constituents, is present.
This result suggests that the bright white rocks in Mist Park likely contain more water than average, though it is unclear what role this plays in their formation. The team will continue analyzing these materials with DAN to understand their properties.
The discovery of these mysterious rocks adds a fascinating element to the mission’s work at Jezero, aiming to determine the history of water on the Red Planet. The rover’s investigation of this ancient river delta, where a lake once stood, reveals how long liquid water was present on Mars and whether or not it supported prebiotic or biological evolution.
In the meantime, Perseverance is continuing its ascent of the crater’s steep slopes, which will take it to the area where the Curiosity rover discovered signs of a once-active water pump. The team is eager to see what other surprises lie ahead on this exciting journey up the Red Planet’s ancient crater.