Rock Cores From Skinner Ridge

A CLOSER LOOK

This pair of images shows two cylinders of rock the size of classroom chalk inside the drill of NASA's Perseverance rover from an outcrop called "Skinner Ridge" in Mars' Jezero Crater. The image of the rock core on the left, called "Swift Run," was taken by Perseverance's Mastcam-Z instrument on July 6, 2022, the 490th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The image on the right, of the rock core called "Skyland," was taken on July 11, 2022, the 495th sol of the mission. Each core is about 0.5 inches, or 13 millimeters, in diameter and 2.4 inches, or 60 millimeters, long. They were taken from an ancient river delta in Jezero Crater, a fan-shaped area where, billions of years ago, a river once flowed into a lake and deposited rocks and sediment. Scientists believe these rock samples contain

Explore NASA's original image record for credits and available downloads.