JPL
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
JPL Logo
JPL Logo
Mars
.

My Favorite Martian Image: ‘Enchanted’ Rocks at Jezero Crater

June 29, 2022
This image of the sedimentary rocks of Enchanted Lake was taken by one of the Perseverance rover's Hazard Avoidance Cameras (Hazcams) near the base of Jezero Crater's delta on April 30, 2022.
This image of the sedimentary rocks of Enchanted Lake was taken by one of the Perseverance rover's Hazard Avoidance Cameras (Hazcams) near the base of Jezero Crater's delta on April 30, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Full Image Details

Not even Obi-Wan Kenobi could convince Perseverance’s Katie Stack Morgan that these are not the rocks she’s looking for.

Ask any space explorer, and they’ll have a favorite photograph or two from their mission. For Katie Stack Morgan, the deputy project scientist for NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover, the first close-up image of layered rocks at the base of Jezero Crater’s ancient river delta holds a special place in her heart. The image of the “Enchanted Lake” rocky outcrop, informally named after a landmark in Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve, was taken by one of the rover’s Hazard Avoidance Cameras (Hazcams) on April 30, 2022.

A massive fan-shaped collection of rocks and sediment at the western edge of Jezero Crater, the delta formed at the convergence of a Martian river and a crater lake billions of years ago. Exploring this delta has been on Stack Morgan and the rest of the Perseverance science team’s wish list because they believe the location provides one of the mission’s best opportunities to find rocks that could have preserved remnants of ancient microbial life – a primary goal of the mission.

Where Is Perseverance Right Now?

“Hazcam images are mainly used by the mission’s engineers to assist with driving and placement of the rover’s arm,” said Stack Morgan. “But when I saw the Hazcam image of Enchanted Lake, it was love at first sight. This image provided our first up-close glimpse of sedimentary rocks – the ones I’ve been most eager to explore since Jezero was named the landing site for Perseverance nearly four years ago.”

Rocks and Signs of Past Life

To best understand why this image of Perseverance’s first close encounter with a sedimentary rock is such a kick for Stack Morgan, it helps to go back to the beginning of the rover’s exploration of Mars. After Perseverance landed Feb. 18, 2021, on the flat, rocky plains that make up the floor of Jezero Crater, it spent more than a year studying outcrops, boulders, and regolith (broken rock and dust) in the area, gathering samples along the way.

Get the Latest JPL News

SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER

One of the science team’s big takeaways from that effort: The rocks of the crater floor are igneous in origin, having formed billions of years ago from molten rock that cooled either underground or after volcanic eruptions. Igneous rocks can offer a great deal of information about the interior of Mars and the age of geologic features. What’s more, the team found evidence that the igneous rocks interacted with water and could have once hosted habitable microenvironments.

But, as Stack Morgan notes, the screaming-hot pressure-cooker conditions that produce igneous rocks don’t usually provide the optimal environment for preserving evidence of fossilized microscopic life. On the other hand, sedimentary rocks – like those that dominate the Jezero delta – provide an ideal site to look for signs of past life.

Over time, mud, silt, and sand brought into the lake that filled Jezero compressed and solidified into thin layers of sedimentary rock. If microscopic organisms were also present during sedimentary rock formation, they could have been captured within the layers, frozen in time as fossilized lifeforms.

Could Enchanted Lake’s layered rocks contain evidence that Mars once was home to microscopic life? Maybe. However, such a monumental determination will probably have to wait for the samples that Perseverance is gathering in special tubes to be brought to Earth and analyzed with powerful lab equipment too large to bring to Mars. And while NASA’s planned Mars Sample Return Campaign is scheduled to carry around 30 tubes back to Earth, NASA has to be selective about what goes inside them.

“Enchanted Lake was our first close encounter with sedimentary rocks in Jezero, but we’re going to do what rover missions do best – look around, drive, and then look some more. Even if we find other targets in the delta to sample, I will always have a special place in my heart for the rocks that showed me that we sent the rover to the right place,” Stack Morgan said.

Perseverance is parked about halfway up the delta in a field of sedimentary rocks the science team calls “Hogwallow Flats.” Over the next several weeks, the rover will analyze – and perhaps sample – one or more rocks in the area. Then, the team will decide whether to return to Enchanted Lake or explore other exciting outcrops of the Jezero delta.

More About the Mission

A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith.

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.

For more about Perseverance:

mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

Explore With Perseverance in 3D
Mobile App Features 3D NASA Spacecraft

News Media Contact

DC Agle

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

818-393-9011

agle@jpl.nasa.gov

Karen Fox / Alana Johnson

NASA Headquarters, Washington

301-286-6284 / 202-358-1501

karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov

2022-095

Related News

Solar System .

NASA’s Magellan Data Reveals Volcanic Activity on Venus

Mars .

Engineers Keep an Eye on Fuel Supply of NASA’s Oldest Mars Orbiter

Solar System .

Study Finds Ocean Currents May Affect Rotation of Europa’s Icy Crust

Mars .

NASA’s Curiosity Views First ‘Sun Rays’ on Mars

Solar System .

Study Finds Venus’ ‘Squishy’ Outer Shell May Be Resurfacing the Planet

Mars .

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Set to Begin Third Year at Jezero Crater

Mars .

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Shows Off Collection of Mars Samples

Solar System .

NASA’s NuSTAR Telescope Reveals Hidden Light Shows on the Sun

Mars .

NASA’s Curiosity Finds Surprise Clues to Mars’ Watery Past

Mars .

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Completes Mars Sample Depot

Explore More

Image .

Dao and Niger Valles

Image .

Rabe Crater Dunes

Image .

Ophir and Candor Chasmata

Image .

Eumenides Dorsum

Image .

Ingenuity and Perseverance Make Tracks

Image .

Perseverance Views Drifting Clouds

Image .

Chaos

Image .

Icaria Fossae

Image .

South Polar Ice

Image .

South Polar Ice

About JPL
Who We Are
Executive Council
Directors
Careers
Internships
The JPL Story
JPL Achievements
Documentary Series
Annual Reports
Missions
Current
Past
Future
All
News
All
Earth
Solar System
Stars and Galaxies
Subscribe to JPL News
Galleries
Images
Videos
Audio
Podcasts
Apps
Visions of the Future
Slice of History
Robotics at JPL
Events
Lecture Series
Team Competitions
Speakers Bureau
Calendar
Visit
Public Tours
Virtual Tour
Directions and Maps
Topics
JPL Life
Solar System
Mars
Earth
Climate Change
Exoplanets
Stars and Galaxies
Robotics
More
Asteroid Watch
NASA's Eyes Visualizations
Universe - Internal Newsletter
Social Media
Get the Latest from JPL
Follow Us

JPL is a federally funded research and development center managed for NASA by Caltech.

More from JPL
Careers Education Science & Technology Acquisitions JPL Store
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
Acquisitions
JPL Store
Related NASA Sites
Basics of Spaceflight
Climate Kids
Earth / Global Climate Change
Exoplanet Exploration
Mars Exploration
Solar System Exploration
Space Place
NASA's Eyes Visualization Project
Voyager Interstellar Mission
NASA
Caltech
Privacy
Image Policy
FAQ
Feedback
Site Managers: Veronica McGregor, Randal Jackson
Site Editors: Tony Greicius, Naomi Hartono
CL#: 21-0018