NASA shares clearest view of Mars landscape ever – and the color of the rocks might surprise you

NASA has released the clearest view of Mars ever caught on camera in images captured by the Perseverance rover. 

The stunning images give a clear view over the Martian landscape with clusters of unusual-looking rocks. 

The sharp shots were taken by NASA’s rover as it explored the Jezero crater. 

The sprawling landscape showcased in the photos is packed with blue-colored rocks made of volcanic basalt. 

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The Mars rover caught some crystal-clear shots

Perseverance has been beaming images of Mars back down to Earth since it landed on the planet in February 2021.

Over that time, it has made some groundbreaking discoveries including detecting organic molecules that could be potential proof of ancient microbial life.

Other images sent back left people shocked by just how much the landscape of the Red Planet resembles our own. 

But it’s unlikely folks will be saying that after seeing these images of the deep blue-hued boulders at the Jezero crater.

The site been named Mount Washburn after a mountain in Yellowstone Park. 

“The diversity of textures and compositions at Mount Washburn was an exciting discovery for the team, as these rocks represent a grab bag of geologic gifts brought down from the crater rim and potentially beyond,” Brad Garczynski, of Western Washington University in Bellingham, the co-leader of the current science campaign told The Telegraph.

The newly discovered rocks could change what scientists once thought

Alongside the blue rocks experts spotted a much lighter-colored stone and decided to go and check it out. 

“Every once in a while, you’ll just see some strange thing in the Martian landscape, and the team is like, ‘Oh, let’s go over there,'” Katie Stack Morgan, deputy project scientist of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission, told Mashable. 

“This was like the textbook definition of (chasing) the bright, shiny thing because it was so bright and white.”

The existence of the white rock could mean that Mars’ early crust was a lot more complex than experts previously thought.

The light-toned boulder was nicknamed Atoko Point and NASA scientists are hopeful to find more like it. 

“We said, ‘OK, let’s keep this rock in mind,'” Stack Morgan added.

“‘Maybe we’ll come back here if we don’t find this elsewhere in the crater rim.'”

NASA also discovered a ‘striped surprise’

Late last month, Perseverance spotted a black-and-white striped rock that was ‘unlike any seen on Mars before’.

The exciting discovery prompted experts to speculate about other ‘exciting discoveries to come’.

The rover was traveling through an area NASA dubbed an ‘unremarkable pebbly terrain’ when team members caught a glimpse of something light-colored in the background and gave it the name Freya Castle.

They were able to get a closer look thanks to the rover’s Mastcam-Z camera and were shocked to see the unusual striped pattern. 

“Freya Castle’ is merely the latest in a series of intriguing rocks found recently; ever since arriving in the vicinity of the crater rim, the team has noticed an increased variety of rocks, such as the diverse collection of boulders at ‘Mount Washburn’,” NASA said in a recent statement.

“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…”

Exciting stuff, right?