Fact or Fiction

NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover Has a Pet Rock!
NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover Has a Pet Rock!

How do you choose a rock on Mars? Sometimes you don’t— it chooses you. As we reported months ago, Perseverance acquired an unwanted hitchhiker — a rock — stuck in one of its wheels in February. What is surprising is that the rock is still there, riding on the left front wheel for over 5 miles. Fortunately, it isn’t doing any damage.

Physicists Explain Mysterious “Discrete Aurora” on Mars
Physicists Explain Mysterious “Discrete Aurora” on Mars

Scientists have learned how discrete aurora is formed on Mars. In a new study, the physicists report that the upstream solar wind properties interacting with the crustal magnetic fields found in Mars’ southern hemisphere strongly affect the formation and properties of the Martian discrete aurora. The research was led by Zachary Girazian, an associate research scientist in the University of Iowa Department of Physics and Astronomy.