NASA rover accidentally drew a giant penis: it was spotted on satellite photos

NASA's Perseverance rover recently reached its final point of scientific interest. The change in route not only reduced the approximate travel time to reach the goal, but also produced an interesting image: the outline of a huge Martian sausage.

NASA teams have published an image of a map of an ancient riverbed on Mars, superimposed on the path taken by the robot from January 21 to June 11. Some media outlets compared the image to a giant penis drawn on the Martian sands.

In addition to the large "Martian penis," NASA's rover has reached an area called Bright Angel to find evidence of carbonate and olivine deposits inside the rim of Jezero Crater. Located at the base of the northern wall of the channel, Bright Angel has rocky, light-colored outcrops that could represent either ancient rock exposed by river erosion or sediments that have filled the channel. The team hopes to find rocks other than those found in the carbonate- and olivine-rich marginal unit and gather more clues about Jezero's history.

The Perseverance rover had a difficult time reaching Bright Angel due to the uneven terrain. "We started digging a channel in parallel at the end of January and made pretty good progress, but then the boulders got bigger and more numerous. What had been an average of over a hundred meters per Martian day was reduced to only tens of meters. It was disappointing," said Evan Gracer, Perseverance's deputy route strategic planning manager, in a statement.

When Perseverance encountered large boulders along the way, the rover's automatic navigation system, or AutoNav, often stopped, deciding that it did not like the route. However, the mission's navigation team found a shortcut through the bed of an ancient river.

The rover traveled 200 meters in one sol (Martian day), reaching a hill covered with interesting boulders that it had never seen before on Mars.

"The variety of textures and compositions on Mount Washburn was an exciting discovery for the team, as these rocks represent a bag of geological gifts brought from the crater rim and possibly beyond," commented Brad Garczynski of Western Washington University in Bellingham, co-author and leader of the current science campaign.

After leaving Mount Washburn, the rover headed 132 meters north to investigate the geology of "Tuff Rock" before making the four-salt, 605-meter journey to Bright Angel. Currently, Perseverance is analyzing the rocky outcrop to determine whether to take a core sample.

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