Standing Out on Mars' 'Mount Washburn'
Composed of 18 images, this natural-color mosaic shows a boulder field on "Mount Washburn" (named after a mountain in Wyoming) in Mars' Jezero Crater. The Perseverance science team nicknamed the light-toned boulder with dark speckles near the center of the mosaic "Atoko Point" (after a feature in the eastern Grand Canyon). The images were acquired by NASA's Perseverance Mars rover on May 27, 2024, the 1,162nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission.
Analysis by the rover's SuperCam and Mastcam-Z instruments indicate Atoko Point is composed of the mineral pyroxene, similar to some boulders the rover has encountered elsewhere in Jezero Crater. In terms of the size, shape, and arrangement of its mineral grains and crystals – and potentially its chemical composition – Atoko Point is different from any of the rocks the rover has encountered before.
Some Perseverance scientists speculate the minerals that make up Atoko Point were produced in a subsurface body of magma that is possibly exposed now on the crater rim. Others on the team wonder if the boulder, which stands about 18 inches (45 centimeters) wide and 14 inches (35 centimeters) tall, had been created far beyond the walls of Jezero and transported there by swift Martian waters eons ago.
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