Approximately 600 samples will be collected, including rock chips, channels, and grab samples during the Phase I program.
NASA’s Perseverance rover found light-red 'leopard spots' and detected organic molecules in clay-bearing sediments inside a rock in Jezero Crater in September 2025, providing the strongest evidence to date that microbial life could have existed there 3.5 billion years ago.
Chemistry measurements with APXS and ChemCam are planned for freshly broken rock surfaces when operations resume after conjunction.
Perseverance is traversing Jezero Crater, a former lake and river system, where it is collecting rock cores judged to be strong candidates for a future Mars Sample Return campaign.
In September, the mission team reported that a core from a rock dubbed 'Cheyava Falls' contains a potential fingerprint of past microbial life.
Dust and rock collected from the asteroid Bennu contained all five nucleobases used in DNA and RNA, 14 of the 20 amino acids found in proteins, and various other organic molecules.
The study links details of the interior structure, including the distribution of rock and water with depth, to the properties of magnetic fields measured by spacecraft flybys.
The density solutions for Uranus span rock to water mass ratios from about 0.04 to nearly 4.
Limited knowledge of the equations of state of rock and water mixtures and hydrogen-helium-water systems introduces uncertainties in inferred compositions.
The data show a dayside temperature closer to 3,200 degrees Fahrenheit, which is substantially cooler than the bare-rock prediction.
TOI-561 b is less dense than an Earth-like mixture of rock and metal would suggest.
The rock overburden at SNOLAB shields the experiment from cosmic rays and other background radiation.
Longer flow paths on Mars increase opportunities for chemical reactions between water and rock, which could enhance the likelihood of biosignatures being recorded in the sedimentary record.
The chief rock type in Iceland is basalt, which has been found in Martian meteorites and by the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers.
Understanding asteroid structures is critical for planetary defense, as rubble pile asteroids would react differently to impact deflection attempts compared to solid rock bodies.
The analyzed rock collected from the moon is approximately 2.8 billion years old.
A research team led by a Brown University professor reported findings of sulfur compounds in rock samples taken from the Moon's Taurus Littrow region during Apollo 17.
The Chang'e 5 spacecraft returned 1,731 grams of lunar soil and rock to Earth in December 2020.
The thick rock ceilings of lava tubes could shield explorers from radiation, micrometeoroid impacts, and dramatic temperature swings.
NASA has reported possible biosignatures in a Mars rock.