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Explore This Section Perseverance Home Mission Overview Rover Components Mars Rock Samples Where is Perseverance? Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Mission Updates Science Overview Objectives Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Perseverance Raw Images Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions Mars Home 2 min read
Searching for Ancient Rocks in the ‘Forlandet’ Flats
NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image of the “Fallbreen” workspace using its onboard Left Navigation Camera (Navcam). The camera is located high on the rover’s mast and aids in driving. This image was acquired on May 22, 2025 (Sol 1512, or Martian day 1,512 of the Mars 2020 mission) at the local mean solar time of 14:39:01. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by Henry Manelski, Ph.D. student at Purdue University
This week Perseverance continued its gradual descent into the relatively flat terrain outside of Jezero Crater. In this area, the science team expects to find rocks that could be among the oldest ever observed by the Perseverance rover — and perhaps any rover to have explored the surface of Mars — presenting a unique opportunity to understand Mars’ ancient past. Perseverance is now parked at “Fallbreen,” a light-toned bedrock exposure that the science team hopes to compare to the nearby olivine-bearing outcrop at “Copper Cove.” This could be a glimpse of the geologic unit rich in olivine and carbonate that stretches hundreds of kilometers to the west of Jezero Crater. Gaining insight into how these rocks formed could have profound implications for our constantly evolving knowledge of this region’s history. Perseverance’s recent traverses marked another notable transition. After rolling past Copper Cove, Perseverance entered the “Forlandet” quadrangle, a 1.2-square-kilometer (about 0.46 square mile, or 297-acre) area along the edge of the crater that the science team named after Forlandet National Park on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. Discovered in the late 16th century by Dutch explorers, this icy set of islands captured the imagination of a generation of sailors searching for the Northwest Passage. While Perseverance is in the Forlandet quad, landforms and rock targets will be named informally after sites in and around this national park on Earth. As the rover navigates through its own narrow passes in the spirit of discovery, driving around sand dunes and breezing past buttes, we hope it channels the perseverance of the explorers who once gave these rocks their names.
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Last Updated Jun 06, 2025 Related Terms
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Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions Mars Home 3 min read
Sols 4559-4560: Drill Campaign — Searching for a Boxwork Bedrock Drill Site
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image of a portion of its workspace, full of interesting but not drillable bedrock, using its Left Navigation Camera on June 2, 2025 — Sol 4558, or Martian day 4,558 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 12:23:24 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by Lucy Lim, Planetary Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Earth planning date: Monday, June 2, 2025
Now that Curiosity has spent a few sols collecting close-up measurements of the rocks in the outer edge of the boxwork-forming geologic unit, the team has decided that it’s time to collect a drill sample. The geochemical measurements by APXS and ChemCam have shown changes since we crossed over from the previous layered sulfate unit, but we can’t figure out the mineralogy from those data alone. As we’ve often seen before on Mars, the same chemical elements can crystallize into a number of different mineral assemblages. That’s even more the case in sedimentary rocks such as we are driving through, in which different grains in our rocks may have formed in different times and places. This also means that when we do get our mineral data, those minerals will tell us a lot about the history of these new-to-us rocks.
On board Curiosity, that mineral analysis is the job of the CheMin instrument, which uses X-ray diffraction to identify minerals. CheMin shines a narrow X-ray beam through a powdered sample in order to generate the diffraction pattern, which means that it needs a drilled sample. So the team today was busy looking for a drillable spot. Unfortunately the rover’s drill reach from today’s parking spot included only rocks that were too fractured or had too much debris sitting on them to be considered likely to produce a good drilled sample, so we will have to move, or “bump,” at least one more time before progressing to the drill preload test, which is the next step in drilling.
In the meantime, we are taking more measurements to understand the range of compositions that can be found in this rock layer. Dust removal (DRT) + APXS + LIBS + MAHLI were all planned for target “Holcomb Valley,” while a short distance away a second DRT/APXS/MAHLI measurement was planned for “Santa Ysabel Valley” and in another direction, a second LIBS for “Stough Saddle.” One long-distance ChemCam remote imaging mosaic was planned to cover a boxwork structure off in the distance. Mastcam had a relatively light day of imaging, with just a couple of small mosaics covering a nearby trough feature, and providing context for the RMI of the boxwork structure, in addition to documenting the two LIBS targets. The modern Mars environment was also recorded with a couple of movies to look for dust-devil activity, a measurement of atmospheric opacity, and a pair of suprahorizon observations to look for clouds, plus the usual passive observations by DAN and REMS to monitor the neutron environment, temperature, and humidity.
I’ll be on rover planning Wednesday as Geology and Mineralogy Science Theme Lead and looking forward to what we find — hopefully some drillable boxwork-unit bedrock!
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Last Updated Jun 04, 2025 Related Terms
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By NASA
Explore This Section Perseverance Home Mission Overview Rover Components Mars Rock Samples Where is Perseverance? Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Mission Updates Science Overview Objectives Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Perseverance Raw Images Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions Mars Home 2 min read
Searching for the Dark in the Light
The Perseverance rover acquired this image of the “Hare Bay” abrasion patch using its SHERLOC WATSON camera (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals, and the Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering), located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm. This image was acquired on April 18, 2025 (Sol 1479, or Martian day 1,479 of the Mars 2020 mission) at the local mean solar time of 12:53:57. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by Eleanor Moreland, Ph.D. Student Collaborator at Rice University
Perseverance has been busy exploring lower “Witch Hazel Hill,” an outcrop exposed on the edge of the Jezero crater rim. The outcrop is composed of alternating light and dark layers, and naturally, the team has been trying to understand the makeup of and relationships between the light and dark layers. A few weeks ago, we sampled one of the light-toned layers, which we discovered was made up of very small clasts, or fragments of rocks or minerals, at “Main River.” Since then, we have learned that the dark layers tend to be composed of larger clasts compared to the light layers, and we’ve been searching for a place to sample this coarser-grained rock type. Sometimes, these coarser-grained rocks also contain spherules, which are of great interest to the science team because they provide clues about the process that formed these layered rocks.
Perseverance first looked at a dark layer at “Puncheon Rock” with an abrasion. We then examined a dark layer at “Wreck Apple,” near “Sally’s Cove,” but we could not identify a suitable surface to abrade. So, while team members searched for other locations to study the coarse-grained units and spherules, Perseverance drove south to “Port Anson.”
Perseverance acquired this image of the “Strong Island” workspace near Port Anson using its onboard Front Left Hazard Avoidance Camera A (https://science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-2020-perseverance/rover-components/#eyes). This image was acquired on April 12, 2025 (Sol 1473, or Martian day 1,473 of the Mars 2020 mission) at the local mean solar time of 12:50:32. NASA/JPL-Caltech Port Anson was intriguing because, from orbit, it showed a clear contact between the light layers of Witch Hazel Hill and a distinct unit below it. And, although the rocks below the Port Anson contact do show interesting compositional differences with those of Witch Hazel Hill, they weren’t the coarse-grained rocks we were looking for. We still performed an abrasion there, at Strong Island, before driving back up north for another attempt at investigating the coarser-grained rocks.
We aimed for “Pine Pond,” which neighbors “Dennis Pond,” to abrade at “Hare Bay.” With the data just coming down over the weekend, the team will be hard at work to figure out if we captured the coarse grains and spherules, and if it is representative of rocks we have seen before or not. The image below is a close-up of this most recent abrasion patch at Hare Bay — what do you think? Stay tuned to find out!
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Last Updated Apr 25, 2025 Related Terms
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By NASA
Based at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division, or ARES, curates the most extensive collection of extraterrestrial materials on Earth, ranging from microscopic cosmic dust particles to Apollo-era Moon rocks. Soon, ARES’ team of world-leading sample scientists hopes to add something new to its collection – lunar samples from the Moon’s South Pole region.
As the Artemis campaign sample curation lead, Dr. Juliane Gross is helping ARES and NASA prepare to collect and return those samples safely. “I’m responsible for representing the voice of the Moon rocks and advocating for their protection, preservation, and maintaining their integrity during the planning and execution of all stages of the different Artemis sample return missions,” she said.
Juliane Gross leads a geology lesson for Artemis II crew members as part of their field training in Iceland in 2024.NASA Her multifaceted role includes preparing the Johnson facility that will receive new lunar samples, developing curation strategies, and collaborating with mission teams to plan sampling operations, which encompass collection, handling, transport, and storage processes for all stages of Artemis missions. She trains program managers and engineers on the importance of sample return and teaches crew members how to identify lunar samples and collect them without contamination. She also works with the different programs and teams that oversee the vehicles used at different stages of lunar missions – collaborating with the human landing system team around tool storage and delivery to the lunar surface, the Orion Program to coordinate sample stowage for the return to Earth, and Exploration Ground Systems to plan sample recovery after splashdown.
Once samples are returned to Earth, Gross and the ARES curation team will conduct a preliminary examination of the materials and release a sample catalog from which members of the global scientific community may request loans to carry out their respective research.
Working across Artemis teams raised an unexpected but fun challenge for Gross – learning to communicate effectively with colleagues who have different academic and professional backgrounds. “Scientists like me speak a different language than engineers, and we all speak a different language than managers or the general public,” she said. “I have worked hard to find common vocabulary and to ‘translate’ science needs into the different types of languages that exist within the Artemis campaign. I’m trying to use our differences as strengths to enable mission success and to connect and build relationships with all these different teams through my love and passion for the Moon and rocks from the Moon.”
That passion emerged shortly after Gross completed her Ph.D. in geology, while working on lunar samples with the Lunar and Planetary Institute. She went on to become a research scientist with the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and then a tenured professor of planetary sciences at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey.
In 2019, NASA asked Gross to join the Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis Program. Under the program, NASA preserved some of the 382 kilograms of lunar samples returned by Apollo missions, keeping them sealed for future generations to open and analyze. “NASA had the foresight to understand that technology would evolve and our level of sophistication for handling and examining samples would greatly increase,” Gross said.
She and two other scientists had the incredible opportunity to open and examine two samples returned by Apollo 17. Their work served as a practice run for Artemis sample returns while building upon the fundamental insights into the shared origin and history of Earth and the Moon that scientists previously derived from other Apollo samples. For example, the team extracted gas from one sample that will provide information about the volatiles that future lunar missions may encounter around the Moon’s South Pole.
“The Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis Program linked the first generation of lunar explorers from Apollo with future explorers of the Moon with Artemis,” Gross said. “I’m very proud to have played such an important role in this initiative that now feeds forward to Artemis.”
Juliane Gross examines lunar samples returned by Apollo 17 in Johnson Space Center’s Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility. NASA Gross’ connection with NASA began even earlier in her career. She was selected to join the agency-sponsored Antarctic Search for Meteorites team and lived in the deep ice fields of Antarctica for two months with seven other people. “We lived in tiny two-person tents without any support and recovered a total of 263 space rocks under challenging conditions,” she said. “I experienced the powerful forces of Antarctica and traveled 332 miles on skidoos. My body changed in the cold – I stuffed my face with enough butter, chocolate, and peanut M&Ms to last a lifetime and yet I lost weight.”
This formative experience taught Gross to find and celebrate beauty, even in her toughest moments. “I drank tea made with Antarctic glacier ice that is thousands to millions of years old. I will never forget the beautiful bell-like sounds that snow crystals make when being blown across the ice, the rainbow-sparkling ice crystals on a really cold day, the vast expanses of ice sheets looking like oceans frozen in eternity, and the icy bite of the wind on any unprotected skin that made me feel so alive and reminded me how vulnerable and precious life is,” she said. “And I will never ever forget the thrill and utter joy of finding a meteorite that you know no one on this planet has ever seen before you.”
Gross ultimately received the Antarctica Service Medal of the United States Armed Forces from the U.S. Department of Defense for her work.
Juliane Gross returns to McMurdo Station in Antarctica after working in the deep field for two months as part of the Antarctic Search for Meteorites team.Image courtesy of Juliane Gross Transitioning from full-time academia to her current position at NASA has been a big adjustment for Gross, but she has learned to love the change and the growth opportunities that come with it. “Being part of this incredible moment in history when we are about to return to the Moon with Artemis, our Apollo of today, feels so special and humbling that it made the transition easier,” she said.
The job has also increased Gross’ love and excitement for space exploration and reminds her every day why sample return missions are important. “The Moon is a museum of planetary history,” she said. “It has recorded and preserved the changes that affected the Earth-Moon system and is the best and most accessible place in the solar system to study planet-altering processes that have affected our corner of the universe.”
Still, “The Moon is only our next frontier,” she said. “Keep looking up and never give up. Ad astra!”
Watch below to learn about NASA’s rich history of geology training and hear how scientists and engineers are getting ready to bring back samples that will help us learn about the origins of our solar system.
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By NASA
Explore This Section Perseverance Home Mission Overview Rover Components Mars Rock Samples Where is Perseverance? Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Mission Updates Science Overview Objectives Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Perseverance Raw Images Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions Mars Home 3 min read
Shocking Spherules!
Written by Alex Jones, Ph.D. candidate at Imperial College London
Last week the Perseverance Science Team were astonished by a strange rock comprised of hundreds of millimeter-sized spheres… and the team are now working hard to understand their origin.
This image from NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover, a fusion-processed SuperCam Remote Micro Imager (RMI) mosaic, shows part of the “St. Pauls Bay” target, acquired from the lower Witch Hazel Hill area of the Jezero crater rim. The image reveals hundreds of strange, spherical-shaped objects comprising the rock. Perseverance acquired this image on March 11, 2025, or sol 1442 — Martian day 1,442 of the Mars 2020 mission. NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/IRAP. It has now been two weeks since Perseverance arrived at Broom Point, situated at the lower slopes of the Witch Hazel Hill area, on the Jezero crater rim. Here, a series of light- and dark- toned bands were visible from orbit, and just last week the rover successfully abraded and sampled one of the light-toned beds. It was from this sampling workspace where Perseverance spied a very strange texture in a nearby rock…
The rock, named “St. Pauls Bay” by the team, appeared to be comprised of hundreds of millimeter-sized, dark gray spheres. Some of these occurred as more elongate, elliptical shapes, while others possessed angular edges, perhaps representing broken spherule fragments. Some spheres even possessed tiny pinholes! What quirk of geology could produce these strange shapes?
This isn’t the first time strange spheres have been spotted on Mars. In 2004, the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity spotted so-called, “Martian Blueberries” at Meridiani Planum, and since then, the Curiosity rover has observed spherules in the rocks of Yellowknife Bay at Gale crater. Just a few months ago, Perseverance itself also spied popcorn-like textures in sedimentary rocks exposed in the Jezero crater inlet channel, Neretva Vallis. In each of these cases, the spherules were interpreted as concretions, features that formed by interaction with groundwater circulating through pore spaces in the rock. Not all spherules form this way, however. They also form on Earth by rapid cooling of molten rock droplets formed in a volcanic eruption, for instance, or by the condensation of rock vaporized by a meteorite impact.
NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image of the “St. Pauls Bay” target (the dark-toned float block in the right of the view) using its Left Mastcam-Z camera, one of a pair of cameras located high on the rover’s remote-sensing mast. Perseverance acquired this image on March 13, 2025 — sol 1444, or Martian day 1,444 of the Mars 2020 mission — at the local mean solar time of 11:57:49. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU Each of these formation mechanisms would have vastly different implications for the evolution of these rocks, so the team is working hard to determine their context and origin. St. Pauls Bay, however, was float rock — a term used by geologists to describe something that is not in-place. The team are now working to link the spherule-rich texture observed at St. Pauls Bay to the wider stratigraphy at Witch Hazel Hill, and initial observations have provided tantalizing indications that it could be linked to one of the dark-toned layers identified by the team from orbit. Placing these features in geologic context will be critical for understanding their origin, and determining their significance for the geological history of the Jezero crater rim and beyond!
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Last Updated Mar 21, 2025 Related Terms
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