Nasa’s Perseverance rover has come across a bizarre find on Mars—a rock shaped like a skull that seems to defy its surroundings.
Spotted on 11 April while the rover was exploring Witch Hazel Hill, the rock, now called “Skull hill,” sits on a slope in Jezero Crater—a massive 28-mile-wide area believed to have once been a lake.
What makes the rock stand out is its appearance. Unlike the surrounding light-toned, dusty terrain, Skull Hill is dark, jagged, and full of tiny pits. “It looks like it doesn’t belong there,” said Margaret Deahn, a Purdue University Ph.D student working with Nasa, as quoted by New York Post.
She explained that the rock could be a type of “float”—a term used for rocks that have been moved from their original location, possibly due to erosion, a meteorite strike, or other powerful natural forces. This means Skull Hill might not have formed where it now sits.
At first, the team even thought it might be a meteorite. But a chemical analysis using the rover’s SuperCam, a laser-based tool, showed it lacked the high iron and nickel content typical of space rocks.
Another theory is that it’s an igneous rock, formed by cooled lava or magma, which could make it millions—or even billions—of years old.
Deahn said the team is planning more tests to understand exactly where Skull Hill came from. “We’re lucky the rover can help us study the chemical makeup of rocks right there on the surface,” she said.