The space explorer Perseverance, which has been collecting new samples since NASA sent it to Mars with great excitement and hope and landed, made another discovery. Sharing on Perseverance’s Twitter account, NASA experts shared the photo of the greenish rock sample found by the vehicle with the caption “Another little piece of Mars to carry with me”, while under the caption “There are a few ideas about how this got there. Hypotheses are flying!” He also attached a note.
The Perseverance rover regularly travels across the Martian surface, picking up every little bit it can find and placing them in sample tubes for storage. While NASA is making plans to bring these samples to Earth in 2030, the reason behind the excitement of the newly found greenish rock sample is that this stone is thought to be olivine.
Another little piece of Mars to carry with me.
My latest sample is from a rock loaded with the greenish mineral olivine, and there are several ideas among my science team about how it got there. Hypotheses are flying! Science rules. #SamplingMars https://t. co/L6lhCNdqWq pic. twitter. com/bFXxExhS1P
— NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) November 16, 2021
While olivine is a common mineral in the upper mantle of our planet, traces of this mineral were also found in different asteroids in previous research. This is an invention that will significantly affect thoughts about Mars.
NASA has not yet shared hypotheses about olivine. But it’s clear that researchers will make multiple analyzes based on the data.
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