“It literally stood out,” NASA scientists said, describing the moment that cameras on Perseverance focused on a single, sculpted boulder on the rim of Jezero Crater. In almost four years of traversing the Martian surface, the rover has never seen a rock like this-the 80-centimeter-wide chunk sporting a metallic sheen and a composition rich in iron and nickel, two elements hardly ever seen together in native Martian geology.
Perched atop ancient impact-formed bedrock in the Vernodden region, Phippsaksla’s elevated stance and weathered, cavernous texture set it apart at once from the flat, fragmented rocks that surround it. Confirmation came from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory that initial SuperCam readings revealed unusually high concentrations of iron and nickel-a chemical signature strongly associated with iron-nickel meteorites forged in the cores of large asteroids. On Earth, the same alloy is the major component of the core of the planet, and on Mars, such metallic meteorites are prized finds for understanding planetary and solar system history.
Relatively rare next to stony meteorites, iron-nickel meteorites have their origin story written in the violent early days of the solar system: while molten asteroids cooled, dense metals like iron and nickel sank inward, forming metallic cores. Later, catastrophic collisions would shatter these bodies, flinging fragments into space. On Mars, with an atmosphere only about 1% as thick as Earth’s, such fragments can make it through entry intact, embedding themselves in the surface for millions of years. According to NASA’s InSight mission data, the planet experiences 280 to 360 meteorite impacts annually that are large enough to leave craters over eight meters wide, making the scarcity of such finds in Jezero Crater all the more puzzling.
Past rovers have had better luck: Curiosity discovered the one-meter-wide “Lebanon” meteorite in 2014 and the “Cacao” meteorite in 2023, both in Gale Crater. Opportunity’s 2005 “Heat Shield Rock” and Spirit’s own metallic finds further south expanded the catalog of Martian meteorites. That Perseverance had not encountered one until now despite Jezero’s similar age and impact history has been a lingering question for mission scientists.
The key instrument of the investigation is SuperCam, an instrument on the mast of Perseverance. Comprising a high-resolution camera, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy in a single instrument, it can ablate minute quantities of rock from several meters away and then analyze the emitted light to determine its elemental composition. This capability is important not only for the identification of meteorites but also for the detection of minerals and organic compounds that could be indicative of biosignatures.
Indeed, a set of instruments on Perseverance detected possible biosignatures this year in Jezero’s Bright Angel formation, in the form of the presence of minerals like vivianite and greigite, which suggested the activity of microbes under low-temperature conditions. Confirmation of Phippsaksla as an iron-nickel meteorite would only add to the scientific portfolio that this mission seeks to establish. Meteorites on Mars are basically time capsules that preserve records of the formation of their parent bodies and the environmental conditions they have been exposed to since arrival.
Their different weathering patterns can reveal how Martian atmosphere, dust, and temperature fluctuations act to change metallic surfaces over geological timescales. Indeed, such information contributes to general planetary science but also refines models about meteoroid survival rates and distribution across Mars. Equally tantalizing is the prospect of sample return to Earth. Perseverance’s drill and caching system captures and seals rock cores that can someday be retrieved by another mission.
Though the rover cannot itself send samples home, a fragment of Phippsaksla may one day be studied in terrestrial laboratories; isotopic studies could conceivably pinpoint its exact place of origin perhaps even linking it to known meteorite groups found on Earth. For now, the team carries on with its remote analysis, balancing the need to confirm the rock’s extraterrestrial origin with the rover’s larger mission of searching for signs of ancient life. Whether Phippsaksla proves to be that long-looked-for meteorite or an odd native rock, its very discovery makes a statement about the range of materials scattered across the face of Mars and about the surprises that continue to await in the dust.
