The Mars rover Perseverance has found another remarkable object on Mars. NASA shared a new photo of a rock that looks like… a chopped avocado.
The Perseverance rover landed on the Red Planet in February 2021. Since then, it has been tirelessly exploring Jezero Crater and trying to find evidence of past life. During his journey, he encountered many interesting rocks. The collection now includes the Avocado Rock – an elongated, rounded formation with a distinct seed-like bulge. Furthermore, the rough surface of the rock reflects the texture of the fruit peel.
Collects samples and examines the environment
The image was captured by the Mastcam-Z instrument, which consists of a pair of cameras mounted on a mast that resembles the head of the rover. It was performed on Marian day 907.
Billions of years ago, there was a large lake and river delta in Jezero Crater. With the help of Ingenuity aircraft, which support Perseverance’s work, the area is being surveyed in more detail. One of the rover’s most important goals is to characterize the Martian environment and collect samples to return to Earth on future missions.
A rock shaped like a cut avocadoNASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona State University
Avocado book donut
Recent months are full of interesting discoveries. In June, the Perseverance spacecraft spotted a donut-shaped rock with a hole in the middle, which scientists believe may be the remains of a large meteorite that fell on the red planet. A month earlier, the spacecraft photographed a rock that looked like an open book.
These types of images are examples of a phenomenon known as pareidolia. This is the tendency of the human brain to impose a familiar pattern on random visual data.
Main image source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona State University
“Prone to fits of apathy. Introvert. Award-winning internet evangelist. Extreme beer expert.”
