NASA finds bizarre striped zebra rock on Mars: ‘Sign of exciting discoveries to come’

A NASA rover has sent back images of an unusual rock formation on Mars that has left scientists baffled.

Few things in space are simply black and white — but this bizarre rock certainly is.

NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover discovered a strange black-and-white rock unlike anything seen on Mars before, stunning both scientists and the internet, the New York Post reports.

The agency says this could be “a sign of exciting discoveries to come”.

Team members spotted the rock in the distance “with hints of an unusual texture” in low-resolution images while driving across “unremarkable pebbly terrain”.

Upon closer inspection, they measured the striated stone at approximately 20 centimetres across, and dubbed it “Freya Castle”.

NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover discovered a strange black-and-white rock unlike anything seen on Mars before. Picture: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

“When these data were downlinked a couple of days later after Perseverance had already left the area, it became clear just how unusual it was!” NASA said.

Early interpretations suggest that the melting, movement and cooling of magma and lava may have created the rock’s stripes, as igneous rocks form when hot, molten rock crystallises and solidifies.

Mars was a volcanically active planet for millions of years, which could have created the environment in which this rock could form.

“This rock has a texture unlike any seen in Jezero Crater before, and perhaps all of Mars,” the agency said.

While the internet has its own theories about what this “zebra rock” could be, the science team at NASA believes that “since Freya Castle is a loose stone that is clearly different from the underlying bedrock, it has likely arrived here from someplace else, perhaps having rolled downhill from a source higher up.”

NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover first landed in Jezero Crater in February 2021. Picture: AP

NASA’s statement continued, “This possibility has us excited, and we hope that as we continue to drive uphill, Perseverance will encounter an outcrop of this new rock type so that more detailed measurements can be acquired.”

The rover first landed in Jezero Crater in February 2021 and is searching for rocks that could provide information and insight into Mars’ ancient history — and Freya Castle is just the latest discovery.

The team has found an increased variety of rocks, including a diverse collection of boulders at a site known as Mount Washburn.

“Could these be our first glimpses at ancient rocks uplifted from depth by the Jezero impact, now exposed on the crater rim? Only time will tell,” NASA said.

This article appeared in the New York Post and was republished with permission

Originally published as NASA finds bizarre striped zebra rock on Mars: ‘Sign of exciting discoveries to come’