NASA’s Perseverance rover has captured images of a field of boulders in Jezero Crater on Mars. The rover’s Mastcam-Z imager took a series of images on July 6, which were stitched together to create a composite image. The boulders were deposited in the crater by a fast-moving ancient river. The image also shows the rover tracks, providing a sense of scale. The mission’s science team is excited about the potential of the rover’s 20th rock core sample, which was drilled from an outcrop composed of rocks carried by the ancient river and cemented together. These conglomerates contain valuable information about places the rover may never visit. The samples will be brought back to Earth for further analysis. Perseverance is currently exploring the top of a fan-shaped pile of sedimentary rock and will soon head towards a low ridge called “Snowdrift Peak.” The rover will have to cross a field of boulders, which are also of interest to scientists as they can visually investigate multiple distinct rocks in a single image. The mission’s objective is to search for signs of ancient microbial life and pave the way for human exploration of Mars.
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