NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover captured the image of a rock nicknamed “Cheyava Falls” on July 18, 2024, the 1,212th Martian day (sol) of the mission.
Key points
- The vein-filled rock is catching the eye of the science team of NASA’s Perseverance rover. The arrowhead-shaped “Cheyava Falls” rock contains fascinating traits that may bear on the question of whether Mars was home to microscopic life in the distant past.
- Analysis by instruments aboard the rover indicates the rock possesses qualities that fit the definition of a possible indicator of ancient life.
- The rock exhibits chemical signatures and structures that could possibly have been formed by life billions of years ago when the area being explored by the rover contained running water.
- Scientists are particularly interested in the millimeter-size, irregularly shaped light patches on the central reddish band that are surrounded by a thin ring of dark material, akin to leopard spots.
- Spotting of this type on sedimentary terrestrial rocks can occur when chemical reactions involving hematite turn the rock from red to white.
- Those reactions can also release iron and phosphate, possibly causing the black halos to form, and they can be an energy source for microbes, hence the association between such features and microbes in a terrestrial setting.
- The rock — the rover’s 22nd rock core sample — was collected on July 21, as the rover explored the northern edge of Neretva Vallis, an ancient river valley measuring a quarter-mile (400 meters) wide that was carved by water rushing into Jezero Crater long ago.
