Large boulders the size of small boulders
On April 29, 2021, the 68th Martian day of the mission, our Perseverance Mars rover took in the rocky view in front of Santa Cruz hill in Jezero Crater. This picture is an enhanced-color mosaic of multiple images. It was created using the left- and right-eye views of Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z camera system.
The rover will pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet and characterize Mars’s geology and past climate. Perseverance will also be the first to collect and cache samples of Martian rocks, like the ones you see here. These boulders are examples of the kind of rocks the team has called “Ch’al” (pronounced “chesh”), the Navajo word for “frog,” and are about 20 inches (50 centimeters) across on average.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS
#astrobiology#Mars#Perseverance#rover#rocks#geology#petrology#Mars2020#space
Some of the oldest rocks on Earth are Down Under – no digging necessary. ⛏️ The Pilbara in northwestern Australia displays rocks over 3.6 billion years old. The iron-rich rocks formed before the presence of atmospheric oxygen – and life itself. Found upon these rocks are 3.45-billion-year-old fossil stromatolites, colonies of microbial cyanobacteria. This image is a composite of ASTER, a cooperative effort between @NASAJPL and Japan's Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry (METI), with the collaboration of scientific and industry organizations in both countries. ASTER captures high spatial resolution data in 14 bands, from the visible to the thermal infrared wavelengths, and provides stereo viewing capability for digital elevation model creation. The broad spectral coverage and high spectral resolution of ASTER provides scientists in numerous disciplines with critical information for surface mapping and monitoring of dynamic conditions and temporal change. This image covers an area of 30.5 by 34.3 miles (49.1 by 55.2 km). Credit: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team #NASA#Australia#EarthViews#Pilbara#Fossil#Rocks#DownUnder