NASA's Perseverance rover peered into a Mars rock named 'Sid'

It was a rocky day for NASA on the Red Planet.

A new bunch of photos from the space agency's Perseverance rover introduces us to the latest Mars rock that has been selected for sampling as part of NASA's mission to learn more about the planet. The date with Sid marks something of a milestone, as it is likely to be the last sample collected before Perseverance moves on to a new location.

The voice of the rover, written in the voice of the rover, reads "I took out my abrasion tool again, for a look inside my next rock target."

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The Jezero Crater is where Perseverance landed in February of 2021. It is a type of Mars rock that NASA has dubbed "Chx142", which is the word for "Frog" in the language of the Native American people.

The area of the crater where the rocks are found is believed to have once housed a body of water.

Sid is an example of a higher standing boulder that may represent a unique geologic chapter in the crater floor history that we have not yet sample, wrote Brad Garczynski for NASA. Sid was the rock of choice after weeks of discussion between the science team and rover planners.

The circular pattern you see in the image was created by the tools Perseverance uses to investigate Mars rocks. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

In the past, NASA has characterized rovers like Perseverance as robot geologists, and when it comes to the study of rocks, the rover uses a built-in abrasion tool to create the circular pattern you see in the above image.

The exterior of any given Mars rock is impacted by the surrounding environment on a daily basis. There may be clues to the planet's geological history hidden beneath the Mars rock.