As the Mars rover Perseverance crested the top of Witch Hazel Hill, its operators back on Earth expected amazing things. This area on the western rim of the Jezero crater, along an ancient river delta that Perseverance has been exploring since it landed in 2021, is thought to contain some of the oldest rocks on the planet’s surface. The light-toned, layered materials promise a record of a wetter time, possibly one that hosted life.
The team did not expect what they found on March 11: a dark rock resembling a clutch of frog’s eggs. Dubbed St. Paul’s Bay, the rock looks nothing like its neighbors. Where it came from