The Perseverance rover continues its journey on Mars, a planet where it spotted a perfectly balanced rock. Explanations.
L’astromobile Perseverance began to explore a new region of Mars. This place looks suspiciously like Monument Valley in Arizona and Utah in the United States, or an old sci-fi movie set. A place that scientists have dubbed « Hogwallow Flats« because of the amazing rock formations in this area. Of these structures, it is a small rock that appears to be perfectly perched atop a larger rock formation that is intriguing. For specialists, knowing the history of this rock would provide an interesting geological history.
For scientists, it is likely that this small rock was part of the general structure and that over the millennia, erosion has worn it down to its present form. Wind is an agent of erosion and Mars is a windy planet. “On Mars, where other processes such as fluvial water erosion, volcanism, and tectonism are slow, intermittent, or not occurring in the current era, wind activity is the most common geologic process. dynamic »explained the team of the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which contains an entire section of images related to how the wind has shaped the planet.
A piece of shiny aluminum that would be part of a thermal blanket according to the Perseverance team, was also spotted. “It’s a surprise to find this here: our descent stage crashed regarding 2 km away. Did this coin land here following that, or was it blown here by the wind? »asked the team regarding Twitter. Mars therefore remains a planet that is still very mysterious and filled with unusual treasures. In the meantime, Perseverance continues on its way to study its characteristics.
My team has spotted something unexpected: It’s a piece of a thermal blanket that they think may have come from my descent stage, the rocket-powered jet pack that set me down on landing day back in 2021. pic.twitter.com/O4rIaEABLu
— NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) June 15, 2022
