\u2018Float rocks,\u2019 sand ripples, and vast distances are among the sights to see in the latest high-resolution panorama by the six-wheeled scientist. <\/p>\n
The imaging team of NASA\u2019s Perseverance Mars rover took advantage of clear skies on the Red Planet to capture one of the sharpest panoramas of its mission so far. Visible in the mosaic, which was stitched together from 96 images taken at a location the science team calls \u201cFalbreen,\u201d are a rock that appears to lie on top of a sand ripple, a boundary line between two geologic units, and hills as distant as 40 miles (65 kilometers) away. The enhanced-color version shows the Martian sky to be remarkably clear and deceptively blue, while in the natural-color version, it\u2019s reddish.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur bold push for human space exploration will send astronauts back to the Moon,\u201d said Sean Duffy, acting NASA administrator. \u201cStunning vistas like that of Falbreen, captured by our Perseverance rover, are just a glimpse of what we\u2019ll soon witness with our own eyes. NASA\u2019s groundbreaking missions, starting with Artemis, will propel our unstoppable journey to take human space exploration to the Martian surface. NASA is continuing to get bolder and stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rover\u2019s Mastcam-Z instrument captured the images on May 26, 2025, the 1,516th Martian day, or sol, of Perseverance\u2019s mission, which began in February 2021<\/a> on the floor of Jezero Crater. Perseverance reached the top of the crater rim<\/a> late last year.<\/p>\n \u201cThe relatively dust-free skies provide a clear view of the surrounding terrain,\u201d said Jim Bell, Mastcam-Z\u2019s principal investigator at Arizona State University in Tempe. \u201cAnd in this particular mosaic, we have enhanced the color contrast, which accentuates the differences in the terrain and sky.\u201d<\/p>\n One detail that caught the science team\u2019s attention is a large rock that appears to sit atop a dark, crescent-shaped sand ripple to the right of the mosaic\u2019s center, about 14 feet (4.4 meters) from the rover. Geologists call this type of rock a \u201cfloat rock\u201d because it was more than likely formed someplace else and transported to its current location. Whether this one arrived by a landslide, water, or wind is unknown, but the science team suspects it got here before the sand ripple formed.<\/p>\n The bright white circle just left of center and near the bottom of the image is an abrasion patch<\/a>. This is the 43rd rock Perseverance has abraded<\/a> since it landed on Mars. Two inches (5 centimeters) wide, the shallow patch is made with the rover\u2019s drill and enables the science team to see what\u2019s beneath<\/a> the weathered, dusty surface of a rock before deciding to drill a core sample that would be stored in one of the mission\u2019s titanium sample tubes<\/a>.<\/p>\n The rover made this abrasion on May 22 and performed proximity science (a detailed analysis of Martian rocks and soil) with its arm-mounted instruments two days later. The science team wanted to learn about Falbreen because it\u2019s situated within what may be some of the oldest terrain Perseverance has ever explored \u2014 perhaps even older than Jezero Crater.<\/p>\n Tracks from the rover\u2019s journey to the location can be seen toward the mosaic\u2019s right edge. About 300 feet (90 meters) away, they veer to the left, disappearing from sight at a previous geologic stop the science team calls \u201cKenmore<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n A little more than halfway up the mosaic, sweeping from one edge to the other, is the transition from lighter-toned to darker-toned rocks. This is the boundary line, or contact, between two geologic units. The flat, lighter-colored rocks nearer to the rover are rich in the mineral olivine, while the darker rocks farther away are believed to be much older clay-bearing rocks. <\/p>\n NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover on behalf of NASA\u2019s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, as part of NASA\u2019s Mars Exploration Program portfolio. Arizona State University leads the operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, on the design, fabrication, testing, and operation of the cameras.<\/p>\n For more about Perseverance:<\/p>\n https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/mission\/mars-2020-perseverance<\/a><\/p>\n DC Agle Karen Fox \/ Molly Wasser 2025-100<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018Float rocks,\u2019 sand ripples, and vast distances are among the sights to see in the latest high-resolution panorama…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[23325,196,3402,3406,79,193,16493],"class_list":{"0":"post-63674","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-jet-propulsion-laboratory","9":"tag-mars","10":"tag-mars-2020","11":"tag-perseverance-rover","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-space","14":"tag-the-solar-system"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
agle@jpl.nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov<\/a> \/ molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n