NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has stumbled upon an enigmatic rock formation on the Red Planet, resembling a “donut,” igniting speculation about its origin and composition.
During its expedition on Friday (June 23), Perseverance captured an image of a large, dark stone with a prominent hole at its center. Surrounding rocks of a similar hue suggest a potential common source that could extend beyond Mars itself.
Experts from the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, suggested that the donut rock could be a substantial meteorite accompanied by smaller fragments. This finding, if confirmed, would not be unprecedented, as Perseverance had previously identified a possible meteorite shortly after landing in February 2021.
The rover’s predecessor, Curiosity, also made notable discoveries of space rocks on Mars since its arrival in August 2012, including a metallic rock named Cacao earlier this year.
Interestingly, this is not the first time a Mars rover encountered a rock resembling a pastry. In 2014, NASA’s Opportunity rover came across a peculiar stone with a white exterior and a red interior, earning the nickname “jelly donut.”
Perseverance is currently exploring Jezero, a 28-mile-wide (45 kilometers) crater on Mars that once housed a substantial lake and river delta billions of years ago. Its primary objectives include investigating the ancient environment for signs of past microbial life and collecting numerous samples for potential return to Earth.
Assisting Perseverance in its mission is the diminutive Ingenuity helicopter, which successfully demonstrated the possibility of aerial exploration on the Red Planet. Currently in an extended mission phase, Ingenuity continues to scout routes and identify intriguing scientific targets for the rover’s examination. With 51 flights and covering a distance of 7.3 miles (11.7 kilometers) on Mars, Ingenuity has proven its worth as a valuable companion to Perseverance.
The discovery of the Martian donut rock adds another layer of intrigue to Perseverance’s groundbreaking mission, offering scientists and space enthusiasts alike a tantalizing glimpse into the mysteries of the Red Planet.