The Perseverance rover has photographed an unusually shaped Martian rock that looks remarkably like a turtle. (Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
NASA's Perseverance rover has captured an intriguing photo of a “turtle” poking its head out of its shell on the surface of Mars. The reptile-like structure is the latest in a long list of Martian rocks that resemble living creatures or other Earth objects.
The new image was taken by Perseverance on August 31, Sol 1610, or Martian day, on the Red Planet. The car-sized rogue robot snapped the image somewhere in Jezero Crater, a 45-kilometer-wide depression where the rover landed in 2021. The area is thought to have once been home to a large lake.
The photo was taken by the SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals) and WATSON (Wide-angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and Engineering) instruments, which together scanned the rock in visible and ultraviolet light, Live Science sister site Space.com reports. Both instruments are mounted on the rover's robotic arm.
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The stone is compared to a turtle because of its two-eyed head, which appears to emerge from a protective “shell” with a pair of “front legs” on either side (see image below).
It is currently unclear what geological processes gave the rock such an unusual shape.
The turtle-like stone has a protective “shell”, a “head” with two “eyes” and a pair of equal-sized “front legs”.
The rovers have collectively taken tens of thousands of photographs of the Martian surface, most of which show numerous rocks or other geological formations carved into unique shapes by ancient water sources or millennia of strong winds. Every now and then, one of these rocks resembles something we see on Earth, such as a blueberry, human-like fingerprints, a mysterious doorway, and even a Star Trek symbol, to name a few.
Such associations often arise from pareidolia, a psychological phenomenon in which the human mind perceives a familiar image, such as a face or picture, in random objects or structures, such as clouds.
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Over the course of its five-year mission, Perseverance has been particularly good at spotting these strange rocks. Other recent finds include a strange medieval “helmet” it passed in August and an out-of-place “skull” that was broken off in April.
The Martian tortoise isn't the only “animal” spotted on the Red Planet. In recent years, spacecraft orbiting Mars have also discovered larger, zoological-like geological features, including a dog-shaped spot beneath the planet's North Pole, a smiling teddy bear resembling a cartoon character, and seasonal swarms of “spiders” crawling across the surface of Mars.
Harry BakerNavigate Social LinksSenior Staff Writer
Harry is a senior writer for Live Science based in the UK. Before becoming a journalist, he studied marine biology at the University of Exeter. He covers a wide range of topics, including space exploration, planetology, space weather, climate change, animal behaviour and palaeontology. His recent work on solar maximum won the 2024 Aerospace Media Awards in the Best Space Story category and was shortlisted for the 2023 NCTJ Awards for Excellence in the Breaking News category. He also writes Live Science’s weekly series Earth from Space.
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