NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover stationed on Mars spotted a dome-shaped rock with a striking resemblance to a helmet used during medieval times. <\/p>\n
The martian rock, captured by Perseverance\u2019s primary camera on Aug. 5, is pointed at the top and dome-shaped on top of a flared brim. It has a rough, textured surface covered in small bumps. <\/p>\n
The image was selected as Perseverance\u2019s best photo during its 234th week on Mars, though scientists working on its team noted it\u2019s not the first time the rover has encountered that type of igneous rock. <\/p>\n
NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover spotted a rock shaped like a medieval helmet on Mars. NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/ASU \/ SWNS<\/p>\n
\u201cThis rock\u2019s target name is Horneflya and it\u2019s distinctive less because of its hat shape (which looks to me to be generally consistent with the pyramid shape we often see in of wind-eroded float blocks on the surface of Mars) and more because it\u2019s made almost entirely of spherules,\u201d David Agle, a spokesperson for the Perseverance team at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told Space.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Perseverance launched in July 2020. NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/ASUS \/ SWNS<\/p>\n The rock\u2019s odd composition will help scientists further understand how Mars\u2019 environmental history, including its \u201cinternal processes,\u201d formed the unique landscape over billions of years, the outlet reported.<\/p>\n Perseverance\u2019s primary mission, though, isn\u2019t to collect baubles. <\/p>\n The rover was launched on July 30, 2020<\/a> to search for ancient microbial life on the Red Planet to aid scientists in studying its habitability.<\/p>\n Its research will help scientists get closer to sending a person to Mars as NASA inches ever closer to its final goal in the Artemis program, which seeks to establish a permanent base on the Moon to oversee the first astronaut landing on the Red Planet.<\/p>\n SpaceX CEO and former Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk is also eyeing interests on Mars with loose plans to launch uncrewed trips as early as 2028<\/a>. <\/p>\n There are currently five NASA rovers on Mars. ESA\/MPS et al. \/ SWNS<\/p>\n In the meantime, Perseverance has been working overtime. <\/p>\n It was first sent to survey the Jezero Crater<\/a> to probe Mars\u2019 \u201cwet history\u201d<\/a> \u2014 a trek it only just completed in December 2024 three years after landing. <\/p>\n \u201cConceivably, microbial life could have lived in Jezero during one or more of these wet times. If so, signs of their remains might be found in lakebed or shoreline sediments,\u201d NASA says on the home page for the mission.<\/p>\n NASA currently has four other rovers on Mars. Sojourner, the oldest and most antiquated of the five, landed on Mars in July 1997, according to NASA<\/a>.<\/p>\n