NASA Releases Perseverance's 6th Mars Selfie, Showing 61-Image View Beyond Jezero Crater
Updated
Updated · EarthSky · May 14
NASA Releases Perseverance's 6th Mars Selfie, Showing 61-Image View Beyond Jezero Crater
9 articles · Updated · EarthSky · May 14
May 12 brought NASA’s release of Perseverance’s sixth-ever Mars selfie, a 61-image composite taken March 11 atop the Arethusa outcrop west of Jezero Crater.
The image was captured after the rover abraded and sampled Arethusa, exposing a circular white patch where it examined the rock’s interior and found igneous minerals likely older than Jezero itself.
NASA said the rover is now in the "Wild West" beyond the crater rim—the farthest west it has traveled since landing more than five years ago in 2021.
A newly shared panorama maps Perseverance’s next route and highlights what scientists say may be some of the mission’s oldest rocks, including a possible volcanic dike.
The shift from Jezero’s sedimentary rocks to older igneous material could reveal how Mars’ crust formed and whether early planetary conditions helped make it habitable.
Why did NASA's rover abandon its lakebed search to drill into Mars's oldest rocks?
What secrets about habitable worlds could Mars's ancient magma ocean finally reveal?
Could the strange 'poppy seed' formations on Mars be our first glimpse of alien fossils?