[Article déjà publié le 24 septembre 2024]
The history of Mars is revealed day by day before our eyes. And this, thanks to the different rovers which survey or will survey its surface in the future. The best known are obviously Curiosity Or Perseverancetwo NASA Mars vehicles. The latter are responsible for many recent discoveries about the past of the Red Planet. Lately, Perseverance spotted a strange stone unlike any other on the surface of Mars that raised more questions than it answered.
A zebra stone discovered by chance
Indeed, as specified in the NASA article reporting the enigmatic find, the zebra stone discovered by Perseverance took place fortuitously on September 13, 2024. About a month ago, the Mars rover set out to climb the edges of the Jezero crater. The latter, caused by a meteorite, is a site of major interest for the American space agency as well as planetary scientists.
Indeed, even though it has been under study for more than 60 years, Mars has not yet revealed all of its secrets about its tumultuous history. If we know that it has harbored water, and that it still harbors some, in liquid form, under its surface, scientists are seeking to answer an important question: did the Red Planet, one day , sheltered life?
Jezero Crater, in addition to teaching us more about the ancient history of Mars, is an important new area of exploration in which Perseverance will try to find evidence that our neighboring planet could, one day, have seen life develop there.
“ The harbinger of exciting discoveries? ”
This is the question asked by Athanasios Klidaras, a doctoral student in the Department of Earth, Atmosphere and Planetary Sciences at Purdue University in Indiana (USA). Studying the ancient history of Mars, the young scientist was able to write about the discovery of the zebra stone on the NASA site.
A question which, we hope, will not remain unanswered since, as you will have understood, at present no answer has been provided regarding this strange stone. The only thing we know about her is her name: Freya Castle. A reference to the Grand Canyon site in Colorado (USA) which also presents this type of characteristic as reported Forbes.
Please note, the resemblance is simply visual. This is not a step towards saying that a rock from the Grand Canyon landed on Mars. Even if all the hypotheses are to be studied, we will have to wait for the final results of the study to have concrete answers about it.
What is the nature of this strange stone?
The theory mentioned by Athanasios Klidara is that it does not originate from the surface of Mars, but perhaps from its subsoil. According to him, the striations that we observe on the rock, giving it this striped appearance, can be due to two processes:
- That of igneous rocks which results from the cooling of magma or lava and which would therefore betray ancient volcanic activity
- A metamorphic process which defines a rock which has been transformed under the effect of high pressure or temperature, or both at the same time and which could therefore be the result of the crash of a meteorite which lifted the rocks from the basement
Perhaps we will have answers as to its exact nature when NASA succeeds in bringing back to Earth the samples taken by Perseverance since 2021.
Source: NASA
With an unwavering passion for local news, Christopher leads our editorial team with integrity and dedication. With over 20 years’ experience, he is the backbone of Wouldsayso, ensuring that we stay true to our mission to inform.
