The Pareidolia crowd is sure to have a field day with this! Once again, a strangely shaped rock has been spotted on Mars. The rock is once again shaped like a doughnut.
This particular rock was spotted by NASA's Perseverance rover, which continues to explore Jezero Crater in the northern hemisphere of Mars.

The image was taken by the Remote Microscopic Imager (RMI), part of the SuperCam rover, on 22 June 2023 - the 832nd Martian day (or sol) of the mission - from a distance of about 100 metres (328 feet) from the rover.
Oddly shaped rocks are a common feature on Mars and, just like on Earth, are the result of long-term erosion. However, conditions on Mars prevent water-induced erosion, which means that most weathering is caused by wind and dust storms.

A year on Mars is characterised by local storms lasting almost twice as long as a year on Earth (687 Earth days). But every few years (coinciding with summer in the southern hemisphere), Mars experiences a global dust storm that can cover the entire planet and last for months.

Like the "jelly doughnut" rock observed by the Opportunity rover in January 2014, this particular rock may have formed when a smaller rock (or several) eroded away near its centre. Several smaller rocks of similar colour can be seen around it, suggesting a common origin.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory shared the image on its Photojournal page and it quickly began to spread on social media. In a statement on Twitter, the SETI Institute suggested that the donut stone "could be a large meteorite as well as smaller fragments".

The same rock was previously imaged by the Mastcam-Z rover on 15 April 2023 at sol 765, when the rover was about 400 metres (1,312 feet) away.
Along with its predecessors Curiosity, Spirit and Opportunity, numerous meteorite impact debris have been found on the Martian surface over the years. Thanks to Mars' thin atmosphere, meteorites are more likely to leave fragments on the surface, and impact craters are better preserved due to the lack of precipitation.

The Perseverance rover has been operating on Mars since 18 February 2021 and continues to explore Jezero Crater, the site of an ancient lake bed. The rover is busy collecting samples from the preserved delta fan, which shows that water and sediment once flowed into the crater.
These samples will be taken by the Mars Sample Return mission, a joint effort of NASA and ESA, consisting of an orbiter, lander, ascent vehicle and two helicopters.
Analysis of these samples will help shed light on the geological and environmental evolution of Mars and the possibility that life once existed there.

 

Source: https://www.sciencealert.com/