Mars Jelly Doughnut Mystery Solved, and It’s Not an Alien or a Doughnut

This before-and-after pair of images of the same patch of ground in front of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity 13 days apart documents the arrival of a bright rock onto the scene. The rover had completed a short drive just before taking the second image, and one of its wheels likely knocked the rock -- dubbed "Pinnacle Island" -- to this position. The rock is about the size of a doughnut. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ.
This before-and-after pair of images of the same patch of ground in front of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity 13 days apart documents the arrival of a bright rock onto the scene. The rover had completed a short drive just before taking the second image, and one of its wheels likely knocked the rock—dubbed “Pinnacle Island”—to this position. The rock is about the size of a doughnut. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ.

For several weeks now conspiracy theorists have been having fun spreading rumors that an object on Mars that “mysteriously” moved is not natural. One Rhawn Joseph even went so far as to file a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California against NASA, citing the sudden appearance of the rock in a place where it wasn’t before as “proof” of life, and he accused NASA of being unwilling to investigate such an incredible discovery further.

Well, that’s because the rock is exactly that, a rock. Not a fungus or any other living organism as Joseph and his conspiracy theorist friends claim. NASA has always known it was a rock; the question, however, was not “what is it” but rather “how did it get there”?

This image from NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows where a rock called "Pinnacle Island" (lower left corner) had been before it appeared in front of the rover in early January 2014. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ.
This image from NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows where a rock called “Pinnacle Island” (lower left corner) had been before it appeared in front of the rover in early January 2014.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ.

The 1.5-inch-wide, white-rimmed, red-centered rock, which is now dubbed “Pinnacle Island,” was found by NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity on Jan. 8, 2014, and was photographed in a location where older images of the same spot previously showed no object—leading to all kinds of conspiracy theories as to what it could be and where it came from.

Alien rock throwers? Ejecta from a nearby meteorite impact? Alien fungus?

After some investigating, which is what NASA does, the space agency now has an explanation, and it’s no different than when you kick up gravel while driving down a dirt road.

“Once we moved Opportunity a short distance, after inspecting Pinnacle Island, we could see directly uphill an overturned rock that has the same unusual appearance,” said Opportunity Deputy Principal Investigator Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis. “We drove over it. We can see the track. That’s where Pinnacle Island came from.”

The explanation likely won’t convince Joseph and his friends, but it likely won’t warrant a new Mythbusters episode either.

The rock itself is quite interesting, though, at least for a scientist or planetary geologist, because Pinnacle Island contains very high levels of sulfur and manganese, which suggest these water-soluble ingredients were concentrated in the rock by the action of water.

“This may have happened just beneath the surface relatively recently,” Arvidson said, “or it may have happened deeper below ground longer ago and then, by serendipity, erosion stripped away material above it and made it accessible to our wheels.”

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity recorded the component images for this self-portrait about three weeks before completing a decade of work on Mars. The rover's panoramic camera (Pancam) took the images during the interval Jan. 3, 2014, to Jan. 6, 2014, a few days after winds removed some of the dust that had been accumulating on the rover's solar panels. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ.
NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity recorded the component images for this self-portrait about three weeks before completing a decade of work on Mars. The rover’s panoramic camera (Pancam) took the images during the interval Jan. 3, 2014, to Jan. 6, 2014, a few days after winds removed some of the dust that had been accumulating on the rover’s solar panels. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ.

Now, with the doughnut-rock mystery solved, Opportunity is on approach to a boulder-studded ridge to investigate exposed rock layers on the slope. The area is informally named the McClure-Beverlin Escarpment, in honor of engineers Jack Beverlin and Bill McClure—the first recipients of the NASA Medal of Exceptional Bravery for their actions on Feb. 14, 1969, to save NASA’s second successful Mars mission, Mariner 6, when the launch vehicle began to crumple on the launch pad from loss of pressure.

Opportunity has now been exploring the Martian surface for a decade and is expected to continue its exploration for quite some time, as long as the rover does not fall victim to any of a thousand different factors that could cripple it (like what happened to its sister rover, Spirit).

“We are now past the minimum solar-energy point of this Martian winter,” said Opportunity Project Manager John Callas of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif.  “We now can expect to have more energy available each week. What’s more, recent winds removed some dust from the rover’s solar array. So we have higher performance from the array than the previous two winters.”

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4 Comments

  1. Mike,
    Great article, I do have a question as per your article you mentioned that this rock contained “very high levels of sulfur and manganese”. Where does one find the raw data (NOT images) from the instruments from the Opportunity Rover or do I have to be a credentialed scientist to access this information?

    I was surprised that considering the nature of this rock, NASA has not released any close up images or have they and I just haven’t seen them??

    • Hi Tracy,

      I’m not sure exactly where to get the raw data, as I have not been able to find it (for any spacecraft) available on NASA’s websites. If I really needed the raw data (I don’t because I’m not a scientist) & wanted to investigate further though I would start here:

      http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/FOIA/

      As for an close-ups of Pinnacle Island, I cannot find any, & I looked through all the available RAW images from SOL 3540. Either NASA has not released the images yet or there were no close-ups taken. I’m sure you know this, but the RAW images can be viewed here:

      http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/all/opportunity.html

  2. We are all mad if we think there is life up there NASA would have u think the Chinese will be the first to find et. New space race has started and NASA are flat footed as usual

  3. You Rhawn Joseph are a real man NASA are public servants .we need more people like Rhawn Joseph to ask questions NASA has done eather 2 things in space. 1 never been to the moon 2 or been there every day since eather on is masave has anyone knowing the USA to go somewhere take a look and come home keep asking questions that’s what there there for

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