NASA finds something on Mars that it has “never seen before”

NASA's Perseverance rover finds “popcorn” on Mars

After a months-long journey across Mars, Perseverance arrives at a place the team calls “Bright Angel.” There are a variety of light, ancient stones that may have once been covered by water. In this area, the probe discovered “a rock with a strange structure that had never been seen before,” according to one of them to update NASA. “Some of the rocks are densely covered with little balls, which we jokingly referred to as having a popcorn-like consistency,” she continues.

But this discovery is not only a lot of fun for the Perseverance team, but also real science for the geologists on the rover team. So they also point directly to the science behind the discovery: “Together, these features indicate that groundwater flowed through these rocks after they were deposited.” Water ice was recently discovered on Mars' equator by a European Space Agency space probe.

NASA wants to send the Mars rover Perseverance to the next destination

Next, it will drive the Perseverance rover to the highest hill on Mars and take measurements. The team plans to have the rover examine rocks in the area in more detail and conduct chemical analyses. The team on the ground will then decide whether to collect a soil sample and store it for possible transport to Earth in the future. After the final survey of the Bright Angel area, Perseverance will continue to a location called Serpentine Rapids. (unpaid bill)