NASA’s Perseverance rover detects the possible presence of the Phippsaksla meteorite on Mars

NASA’s Perseverance rover may have found a visitor from outer space — a strange, shiny rock on Mars that scientists believe could be a meteorite formed in the core of an ancient asteroid.

According to a new blog post on the rover’s mission page, the rock — nicknamed “Phippsaksla” — jutted out of the flat, broken terrain surrounding it, prompting NASA scientists to take a closer look.

Tests revealed high levels of iron and nickel, the same elements found in meteorites that collided with both Mars and Earth.

While this isn’t the first time a rover has spotted a mineral rock on Mars, it may be a first for Perseverance. Previous missions — including Curiosity, Opportunity and Spirit — have discovered iron-nickel meteorites scattered across the surface of Mars, adding to the surprise that Perseverance has not seen a single one yet, NASA said.

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Now, just beyond the edge of the crater, the spacecraft may have finally found one — a metallic boulder perched on an ancient bedrock formed by the impact. If the discovery is confirmed, it would put Perseverance alongside other Mars rovers that have examined parts of cosmic visitors to the Red Planet.

To learn more about the rock, the team pointed Perseverance’s SuperCam — an instrument that fires a laser to analyze a target’s chemical composition — at Phippsaksla. The readings showed unusually high levels of iron and nickel, a combination that NASA said strongly indicated a meteorite origin.

SuperCam, mounted atop the rover’s mast, uses its laser to vaporize small bits of material, so sensors can detect items inside from several meters away.

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NASA noted that this discovery is important because iron and nickel are usually found together only in meteorites that formed deep within ancient asteroids, and not in the original Martian rocks.

If confirmed, Phippsaksla will join a long list of meteorites identified by previous missions, including the “Lebanon” and “Cacao” discoveries discovered by Curiosity, as well as metallic fragments observed by Opportunity and Spirit. NASA said each discovery helped scientists better understand how meteorites interact with the surface of Mars over time.

Because Vipsaxla lies on top of bedrock that formed outside Jezero Crater, NASA scientists said its location could provide clues about how the rock formed and how it ended up there.

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For now, the agency said its team is continuing to study Phippsaksla’s unusual composition to confirm whether it actually came from beyond Mars.

If it proves to be a meteorite, the discovery would serve as a long-awaited milestone for Perseverance — and another reminder that even on a planet 140 million miles away, there are still surprises waiting in the dust.

Perseverance, NASA’s most advanced robot to date, traveled 293 million miles to reach Mars after launching on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Station in Florida on July 30, 2020. It landed in Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021, where it spent nearly four years searching for signs of ancient microbial life and exploring the planet’s surface.

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Built at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the rover is about 10 feet long, 9 feet wide and 7 feet tall, nearly 278 pounds heavier than its predecessor, Curiosity.

Powered by a plutonium generator, the rover carries seven scientific instruments, a seven-foot-long robotic arm, and a rock drill that allows it to collect samples that could one day return to Earth.

The mission will also help NASA prepare for future human exploration of Mars in the 2030s.