Mars rover discovers a strange Red Planet rock

A peculiar, white-colored rock appears weirdly out-of-place on the Red Planet.
By | Published: June 21, 2024 | Last updated on July 24, 2024

In this enhanced-color version of the mosaic, the color bands of the image have been processed to improve visual contrast and accentuate color differences
A closer look at the boulder the Perseverance rover spotted on Mars. This is an enhanced-color version of the mosaic, intended to improve visual contrast and accentuate color differences. Credit: NASA.
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • NASA’s Perseverance rover discovered "Atoko Point," a light-colored boulder, on Mount Washburn within Mars’s Jezero Crater.
  • The boulder, measuring 45 by 35 centimeters, is composed of pyroxene and feldspar, indicating an igneous or metamorphic geological origin.
  • Two primary hypotheses suggest the boulder either formed elsewhere and was transported by an ancient Martian river or crystallized underground and later surfaced.
  • Atoko Point's mineral composition of pyroxene and plagioclase feldspar is noted to resemble that of eucrite meteorites, such as Camel Donga, which originate from asteroid 4 Vesta.
Key takeaways sponsored by The Space Store

NASA’s Perseverance rover, which has been on Mars since February 2021, recently found a light-colored boulder on the surface of Mount Washburn, a hill inside Jezero Crater. Measuring 18 by 14 inches (45 by 35 centimeters), the rock is now named “Atoko Point,” because it resembles, in color, a similarly named cliff within Arizona’s Grand Canyon.

But while the earthbound feature is made of limestone, a sedimentary rock, Atoko Point on the Red Planet is composed of pyroxene and feldspar, components of igneous and metamorphic rocks. Researchers have offered two ideas about this one-of-a-kind discovery. Either the rock formed elsewhere and was transported to Jezero Crater long ago by a martian river, or it formed underground and eventually made its way to the surface.

The science team in charge of Perseverance’s exploits was looking forward to studying the wide variety of rocks on Mount Washburn. Co-lead Brad Garczynski of Western Washington University says they represent a “grab bag of geologic gifts,” but that Atoko Point was the one that stood out.

NASA’s Perseverance rover, exploring Jezero Crater on Mars, captured the individual images within this 18-part mosaic. Just to the left of center is Atoko Point, the first light-colored boulder found on the Red Planet.

When I first saw the image of Atoko Point, I thought it resembled the light-colored interiors of several meteorites in my collection. For example, the interior of Camel Donga, which fell on the Nullarbor Plain in Western Australia, looks eerily similar. And, indeed, its main minerals are pyroxene and plagioclase, a type of feldspar, the same constituents that make up Atoko Point. Camel Donga is classified as a eucrite, a type of meteorite that is a piece of the asteroid 4 Vesta.

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