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Cookies, cream, and crumbling cores

Nasa’s Mars Perseverance Rover Captured this Image of the INTRIGUING Texture of the Rock Sample Dubbed “Serpentine Lake.” Perseverance acqured this image using its sherloc watson camera, located on the turret at the end of the rover’s Robotic Arm. The sherloc instrument Ments and may be signs of past microbial life; In addition to its Black-WH-WHITE Context Camera, Sherloc is Assisted by Watson Excurs. Perseverance acqured this image on Feb. 1, 2025 – SOL 1405, or martian day 1,405 of the mars 2020 mission – at the local meaning solar time of 23:41:38.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Perseverance’s drives over the last few weeks have doubled back seveal times. Why Such an unconventional route? Team Scientists have been delighted to find new kinds of Rocks that could be the oldest ever found on mars and are eager to collect samples.

Perseverance embarked on the CRATER RIM CAMPAIN in search of ancient uplifted Rock, to better undersrstand the geologic processes obcharring early in marse ‘History, and Serach for ancient Habitableebironment. Recent discoveries have not disappointed: so far in this portion of the rim, every outcrop that the rover has taken a close look at using the Science Instruments on its Robotic Arm Has Ended Soment As explained in the previous update, after accounting the “silver mountain” core, which is rich in the mineral pyroxene, perseverance approsed a nearby rock that hadle ingly nicknamed “serpentine lake.” Following this, The Rover Used Its Abraction Tool to Clean The Rock of Dust and Coatings for Detailed Scientific Interrogation, and the team was waled by the intriguing Rock Texture, Which Resumes ” O worth), and the very High Abundance of Mineals like serpentine, which form in the presence of water.

After Finishing that Investigation, The Operations Team Decided to Have Perseverance Head Back Along Its Path On more to the site of its first abrasion in this part of the rim, Named “CATMERVOORIRE,” CAT EM Reservoir, “to ACCURIRE ACCURIRE AASPLE. Results from that earlier analysis showed a Rock Texure with Coarse Pyroxene and Feldspar Crystals Consistent with an igneous origin. However, the sample tube turned up Empty. What Haappened? Perseverance has encountered this problem before: Flashback to our first ever Coring Attempt. It’s not a common occurrence, but sometimes the Rocks Perseverance Triages to The Rover Drove to a Nearby Spot and Tried Again, but when a second attempt to core this rock did not retain any sample, the team deceded to move on.

This week, perseverance will return on the site of the site of the serpentine lake abrasion patch to achieve a core of this fascinating Rock, which records interaction by water. The team hopes that it will prove strong enough to acquire a core, and if successful, perseverance may perform more scans on the abrasion patches. Afterward, the plan is to drive downhill to an area called “Brom Point,” Home to a Spectacular Sequence of Layred Rock, Where I’m Sure More Surprises and Exciting Science Science

Written by Athanasios Klidaras, Ph.D. Student at Purdue University