NASA rover discovers strange 'helmet' on Mars

NASA's Perseverance rover has captured images of an unusually shaped rock on the surface of Mars: it looks like a battle helmet chipped by time.

Although just a rock, the Horneflya "helmet" still contributes to helping scientists better understand the geological history of Mars, where wind, water and internal activity have carved the landscape over billions of years - Photo: NASA

The image, taken by the Mastcam-Z camera cluster on the Perseverance rover on August 5, 2025, shows a rock with a sharp peak and a rough surface with countless nodules. From a distance, it resembles a 17th-century Dutch soldier's helmet, according to Space.

According to David Agle - spokesman for the Perseverance team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL, NASA), this rock is called Horneflya. What makes scientists interested is not only its "hat" shape but also the fact that it is almost entirely made up of small spheres called spherules.

On Earth, spherules can form through a variety of processes: groundwater seeping through sedimentary rock, chemical weathering, or volcanic activity. Their abundance on Mars raises the question: Did water once flow through the area, leaving its mark in the rock? The answer will require further analysis from the Perseverance team.

Perseverance has already discovered many other "random works of art": avocado-shaped rocks, rocks that look like donuts... This is a typical example of the phenomenon of pareidolia, when the human brain assigns familiar shapes to random patterns (like seeing rabbits on the Moon or faces in clouds).

Previously, NASA also released a series of interesting images sent back by the Curiosity rover, including a small rock on Mars that looks exactly like a branch of coral on the seabed of Earth.

Even though it's just a rock, the Horneflya "helmet" helps scientists better understand the geological history of Mars, where wind, water and internal activity have carved the landscape over billions of years.

Perseverance is now continuing its journey on the north rim of Jezero Crater, after tackling the challenging climb to the top of “Lookout Hill” late last year. Each image like this not only satisfies curiosity, but also opens up clues about the past climate and the possibility of life on the red planet.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/xe-tu-hanh-nasa-phat-hien-mu-bao-hiem-ky-la-tren-sao-hoa-20250814154828024.htm