NASA’s patient rover looks like a weathered combat helmet as it hits a strange volcanic rock on the surface of Mars.
Filmed on the Rover’s Mastcam-Z instrument on August 5, 2025, the rock displays a texture of pointed peaks and perforated nodule evoking the image of armored armored centuries ago. On Earth, similar nodal textures can be formed by chemical weathering, mineral precipitation, and even volcanic processes. Patience found a similar rock in March 2025.
And it is these spheres that scientists are intrigued. “This hat-shaped rock is made up of spheres. The target name of this rock is Honehuya, and it appears to generally match the shape of that hat, as it was made for David Aggres for David Aggres for almost entirely for spires, such as the shape of the hat (which generally appears to match the shape of the pyramid, commonly seen as the wind elodead float blocks on the surface of Mars), and so it generally matches the shape of that hat, as it was made for David Aggres for the spire. He told the lab, Space.com.
You might like it
Scientists believe that in some rocks found on Mars, these spheres form when groundwater passes through the pores of sedimentary rocks. But they don’t know if everything was formed like this. The Perseverance science team will cut out work to analyze more rocks to find answers to this Mars geological mystery and other questions about the burning red planet.
The Mastcam-Z instrument, a mast-like zoom-enabled camera like Perseverance’s neck, allows scientists to capture high-resolution stereo images and find rare features like this sphere-covered “helmet” rock from afar.
Patience has discovered growing galleries in strange rock-shaped shapes, ranging from donut-like met stones to avocado-like stones. These types of images are examples of a phenomenon known as Pareidolia, and describe the tendencies of the human brain to impose patterns familiar to otherwise random visual data. It is a cloud face, a moon rabbit, or a medieval helmet on the surface of Mars.
For now, the helmet lock remains an attractive snapshot of Mars history. Such features demonstrate how scientists piece together the environmental history of the red planet, and how wind, water and internal processes sculpted the landscape for billions of years.
Perseverance is now exploring the northern edge of Jezero Crater, successfully completing a challenging ascent to the crest known as “Lookout Hill” late last year.
Source link
