By: Ken Niu

Since early February 2022, NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover has had a rock stuck in the front left wheel. It has traveled over almost the entire Jezero Crater. The pet rock has successfully smuggled itself over 5.3 miles (8.5 kilometers).

Onboard from Sol (Mars day) 341, the NASA team believes the rover picked up the rock in the Máaz rock formation. Eleni Ravanis, a student collaborator from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa says, “This rock isn’t doing any damage to the wheel, but throughout its journey, it has clung on and made periodic appearances in our left HazCam images.” As Perseverance begins its ascent out of the crater, it is possible that the rock might fall out.

A member of the NASA team states, “we might confuse a future Mars geologist who finds it out of place!” Perseverance has taken the rock across its landing site, Octavia E. Butler, named after the science fiction author, and then across the Kodiak delta, which scientists believe is what remains of a portion of an ancient river.

Surprisingly, this is not the first time a rock has taken a trip on one of NASA’s rovers. In 2004, a potato-sized rock got stuck in the Spirit rover’s rear right wheel, and it had to be dislodged. The Curiosity rover has also picked up many rocks on its missions in the Gale crater.

Perseverance’s main task is to collect rock samples to bring back on its return to earth. Maybe the rover will bring back its pet rock!