NASA’s Perseverance rover has discovered a large, sculpted rock on Mars named “Phippsaksla” that preliminary analysis suggests is an iron-nickel meteorite, which would be the first such find for the mission after years of searching.
NASA’s Perseverance rover has identified a large, oddly shaped rock on Mars, nicknamed “Phippsaksla,” that scientists believe may be an iron-nickel meteorite based on its high concentrations of iron and nickel. This potential discovery is significant as it would be the first meteorite found by Perseverance, a fact that had puzzled the mission team given that previous Mars rovers have made similar finds.
The public announcement of the discovery, made in September, was delayed for over a month due to a federal government shutdown. Mission researchers are planning further analysis to confirm the rock’s extraterrestrial origin, which would finally add Perseverance to the list of rovers that have studied meteorites on the Martian surface.