Even on a planet crammed with unusual geology, this one stands out. On April 11, NASA’s Perseverance rover noticed a darkish, craggy formation jutting out from the in any other case pale terrain of Jezero Crater. It appeared ominous sufficient to earn the nickname “Cranium Hill”—and peculiar sufficient to stump the scientists.
Perseverance had been inching its means down Witch Hazel Hill, a slope on the crater’s rim as soon as flanked by an enormous historical lake. The area, often known as Port Anson, is plagued by what NASA calls “floats”—geological drifters probably carried by rivers, floods, or different chaotic forces billions of years in the past. Cranium Hill matches the invoice: it’s misplaced, out of character, and stuffed with questions.
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Its floor is pitted and scarred, prefer it’s been by way of one thing. Researchers suspect Martian wind, loaded with wonderful mud, could have blasted away softer bits of the rock over eons. Or perhaps the holes shaped from inside, as fragile chunks eroded and fell out over time.
Its eerie coloration—virtually charcoal black—received scientists considering meteorite. However SuperCam readings rapidly shut that down. The chemical signature didn’t match something interplanetary.
That left a extra down-to-Mars principle: Cranium Hill could be volcanic. Minerals like pyroxene and olivine are likely to darken igneous rocks, and the Martian floor has no scarcity of volcanic scars. This chunk might have been flung from a close-by crater or left behind by an eruption that carved a part of the panorama.
“Crater rims—you gotta love ’em,” Katie Morgan, Perseverance’s venture scientist at JPL, said in a statement. “The final 4 months have been a whirlwind, and we nonetheless really feel that Witch Hazel Hill has extra to inform us.”
It’s been a busy stretch for the rover. Since December, Perseverance has collected 5 new samples, analyzed seven extra intimately, and fired its laser at over 80 targets. That’s the quickest tempo of scientific work because it landed in 2021.
However the actual prize—getting these rocks again to Earth—continues to be up within the air. NASA’s Mars Pattern Return mission has hit delays and funds points. Till then, the perfect scientists can do is look, measure, and guess.
Cranium Hill could also be a volcanic loner, a battered survivor of Mars’ wetter days, or one thing stranger. No matter it’s, it’s one other reminder that the Crimson Planet isn’t completed stunning us.
