Robot Technology News
MARSDAILY
Searching for Spherules to Sample
illustration only
Searching for Spherules to Sample
by Denise Buckner | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Pasadena CA (JPL) May 06, 2025

Over the past few weeks, Perseverance has been investigating some curious spherules peppered across the "Witch Hazel Hill" region along the rim of Jezero crater. A striking cluster of the small bubble-shaped stones were first spotted by the Mastcam-Z instrument on Sol 1442 (March 11, 2025) at "Broom Point," in a rock named "St. Pauls Bay." A few sols later, a similar assemblage was discovered by the SuperCam instrument at the "Mattie Mitchell" outcrop near "Puncheon Rock."

As the rover continued along its traverse, spherules continued to appear. At the targets St. Pauls Bay and Mattie Mitchell, the spherules are densely packed and almost look like bunches of grapes. Elsewhere, similar smaller spherules were found intermixed with other grains within the rock. At a target called "Wreck Apple" at the "Sally's Cove" outcrop, individual spherules were set in a matrix of coarse, dark grains. Even more of these circular features are embedded in finer-grained, layered bedrock at a nearby area called "Dennis Pond."

Although the team was intrigued by the spherule-rich layers at Sally's Cove and Dennis Pond, these outcrops were challenging for the rover arm to access. After some searching to find an accessible target, the team decided to perform an abrasion at a neighboring outcrop, called "Pine Pond," which contained an extension of the Dennis Pond layers.

The team picked the target "Hare Bay" in hopes of finding spherules within a rock interior, and conducting proximity science observations with PIXL and SHERLOC to investigate their composition and internal structure. Images of the abrasion patch taken by WATSON show that Hare Bay contains light-toned medium-sized grains, with millimeter-sized spherules dotted throughout the rock! Leading hypotheses for the origin of these spherules include formation by volcanic activity or impact-related processes.

Having found an accessible spherule-bearing rock, the team is currently hard at work collecting a spherule-filled sample! Combined with the information already gathered by Mastcam-Z, SuperCam, PIXL, SHERLOC, and WATSON, future laboratory analyses could help solve the mystery of when, where, and how these spherules formed, which can in turn detangle the geological events that formed and transformed the surface of Mars over billions of years!

Related Links
Perseverance Rover Updates
Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com
Lunar Dreams and more

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
MARSDAILY
NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover Studies Trove of Rocks on Crater Rim
Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 14, 2025
Scientists with NASA's Perseverance rover are exploring what they consider a veritable Martian cornucopia full of intriguing rocky outcrops on the rim of Jezero Crater. Studying rocks, boulders, and outcrops helps scientists understand the planet's history, evolution, and potential for past or present habitability. Since January, the rover has cored five rocks on the rim, sealing samples from three of them in sample tubes. It's also performed up-close analysis of seven rocks and analyzed another 83 from ... read more

MARSDAILY
Pakistan and India accuse each other of waves of drone attacks

Pakistan shoots down 25 Indian drones near military installations

Drones drag Sudan war into dangerous new territory

Lyten Unveils U.S.-Made Lithium-Sulfur Battery Platform for Advanced Drone Propulsion

MARSDAILY
GMV Secures ESA Contract to Develop Advanced Orbital Neighborhood Monitoring Tool

Spacecraft launched by Soviet Union in 1972 is falling back to Earth

Soviet-era spacecraft hits ocean after 50 years in orbit

Accelerating Mathematical Discovery with AI for Tomorrow's Breakthroughs

MARSDAILY
Taiwan's TSMC and China's SMIC both report revenue surge in April

MIT engineers advance toward a fault-tolerant quantum computer

EU 'off the pace' in global microchip race: auditors

IBM to invest $150 bn in US over five years

MARSDAILY
Ontario Approves Construction of GE Vernova Hitachi's BWRX-300 Small Modular Reactor

Google agrees to fund three US nuclear plants

EDF complaint blocks Czech-Korean nuclear deal

AI driven algorithm streamlines next generation nuclear reactor shielding design

MARSDAILY
Iraq arrests IS suspect for inciting the New Orleans attack

US to withdraw some 1,000 troops from Syria

'Bring him home': Philippines migrant workers grapple with Duterte fallout

Iraq says kills senior Islamic State group leader

MARSDAILY
How can India decarbonize its coal-dependent electric power system?

World's richest 10% caused two thirds of global warming: study

How can an electricity network go down in five seconds?

Finland says supports EU goal to cut emissions 90 percent by 2040

MARSDAILY
Chinese EV battery giant CATL aims to raise $4 bn in Hong Kong IPO

Fusion modeling breakthrough accelerates stellarator design and confinement accuracy

'Cold' manufacturing approach to make next-gen batteries

UT Austin researchers advance magnetic fusion design with new confinement method

MARSDAILY
China Establishes UN-SPIDER Regional Support Office at Wuhan University

Tiangong returns largest sample set yet for biological and materials science research

Space is a place to found a community not a colony

China's Shenzhou-19 astronauts return to Earth

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.