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NASA Discovered a Rock on Mars That Doesn't Belong There
Perseverance found an 80 cm rock rich in iron and nickel, potentially an iron-nickel meteorite, marking its first such discovery on Mars, NASA said.
- Last week, NASA's Perseverance rover targeted an unusually shaped rock named Phippsaksla at Vernodden, near Jezero Crater, using its SuperCam instrument for closer study.
- Because of its sculpted, high-standing appearance, scientists flagged Phippsaksla for study as it sharply contrasts with the low-lying, fragmented native Martian crust.
- Using its SuperCam instrument , Perseverance measured the rock’s high iron and nickel content and photographed the possible meteorite about 80 centimetres across on September 19.
- More work is needed to confirm whether Phippsaksla is a meteorite, and if confirmed, Perseverance would join past Mars rovers that examined meteorite fragments.
- Perseverance, which landed in Jezero Crater in February 2021, is studying ancient bedrock while NASA noted the unexpected lack of iron-nickel meteorites in Jezero despite Curiosity finding many in Gale Crater roughly 2,300 miles away.
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34 Articles
34 Articles
NASA has found a rock on Mars that, based on its composition, could be a meteorite and could even have come from an alien star system.
·Budapest, Hungary
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources34
Leaning Left7Leaning Right9Center3Last UpdatedBias Distribution47% Right
Bias Distribution
- 47% of the sources lean Right
47% Right
L 37%
C 16%
R 47%
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