Popcorn Rocks Found on Mars Suggesting Past Water Flow

NASA’s Perseverance Rover has moved from Mount Washburn to its new stop, Bright Angel. At this location, scientists have discovered a strange rock they’ve named “popcorn rock.” This finding adds to the growing evidence suggesting water existed in the Jezero crater in the past.

Perseverance’s primary mission focuses on exploring ancient Mars for signs of past life. In addition to hunting for fossilized clues of ancient life, the rover is investigating environments that might have harbored life.

This is why Perseverance is exploring the Jezero crater, an ancient lakebed with a delta made of sediments and other fascinating geological formations.

On Sol 1175 of its mission, Perseverance reached Bright Angel, a scientifically intriguing area within the river channel that once flowed into the Jezero crater, as reported by ScienceAlert.

Bright Angel with light-colored rocky formations

Bright Angel stands out due to its light-colored rocky formations, which could either be ancient sediments that filled the river channel or older rock exposed by flowing water.

In the image shared by NASA, you can see the path taken by the rover leading to Bright Angel. The white path indicates the route Perseverance followed alongside the Neretva Vallis river channel, while the light blue one indicates where it traversed through the channel itself. The light-toned rocks of Bright Angel are clearly distinguishable in the image.

As Perseverance made its way towards Bright Angel, mission staff could spot the light-colored rocks in the distance. However, reaching the new destination wasn’t straightforward. The rover faced a challenging boulder field that proved difficult to navigate, prompting operators to alter its course.

🚨 BREAKING: POPCORN ROCKS DISCOVERED ON MARS

Perseverance rover finds unusual 'popcorn'-like textured rocks at ‘Bright Angel’ on Mars.

The rocks feature sharp ridges and mineral veins, indicating past groundwater flow.

Next, Perseverance will climb the slope for detailed… pic.twitter.com/A7e22hNkXN

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) June 19, 2024

“We started paralleling the channel in late January and were making pretty good progress, but then the boulders became bigger and more numerous,” explained Evan Graser, deputy strategic route planner lead for Perseverance at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

“What had been drives averaging over a hundred meters per Martian day went down to only tens of meters,” Graser explained. “It was frustrating.”

Perseverance has two modes, including AutoNav

Perseverance has two ways of moving around. When the terrain gets rough, the team plans the rover’s route using images, settling on about 30 meters at a time. For longer distances in a single day, they use AutoNav, the rover’s autopilot mode.

However, navigating the boulder field proved too challenging for AutoNav. Sometimes, it would just stop to stay safe. As a result, the trip to Bright Angel took much longer than planned.

“We had been eyeing the river channel just to the north as we went, hoping to find a section where the dunes were small and far enough apart for a rover to pass between—because dunes have been known to [consume] Mars rovers,” said Graser.