NASA's Mars Rover Zapped a Rock With a Laser and Found Something That Shouldn't Be There
4 Articles
4 Articles
Unexpected discovery in the Jezero crater reveals minerals typical of terrestrial gems and challenges Martian geology
NASA's Mars Rover Zapped a Rock With a Laser and Found Something That Shouldn't Be There
Image Credit: Ollila et al., Geophys. Res. Lett., 2026 NASA’s Perseverance rover has detected what appears to be chromium-bearing corundum in three rocks at Mars’ Jezero Crater, marking the first reported identification of the mineral on the Red Planet. On Earth, corundum is the crystalline material that forms rubies and sapphires. The discovery came after Perseverance […] The post NASA’s Mars Rover Zapped a Rock With a Laser and Found Something…
Perseverance found on Mars a mineral that no one expected. An international team led by A. M. Ollila, of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, announces in Geophysical Research Letters the first detection of corundum on the red planet. This mineral, an aluminum oxide, constitutes the very material of ruby and sapphire. It was found in three small clear pebbles placed on the edge of the Jezero crater. The authors see there the mark of an episode of…
In 2025, the Marshoe Perseverance used a laser to analyze the light stones that lie in the Crater of Ezero. Scientists did not expect anything special, but the stone gave them a real surprise, says Science Aert. Researchers found in the stones something that never happened on Mars, a mineral that could turn out to be a real treasure on Earth. It's a core, a crystallistic material made up of rubies and sapphires. It also found the inclusion of a …
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