NASA's Life Hunter Makes Disturbing Discovery on the Red Planet

The object dubbed "Freya's Castle" sits in the middle of the "plain of life" Jezero Crater but does not belong there.

NASA's alien-life-hunting rover Perseverance recently discovered an odd object during its journey to Mars' Jezero Crater: A black-and-white striped rock that has scientists increasingly puzzled the more they analyze it.

The NASA team has named the strange object "Freya Castle" instead of the original "zebra rock" nickname and claims that it is a type of material never before found on the red planet.

The rock named "Freya Castle" sits in the middle of the "plain of life" Jezero Crater on Mars - (Photo: NASA)

"Our understanding of its chemical composition is limited," Live Science quoted a NASA representative as saying.

However, NASA also proposed two hypotheses about the strange structure of this object. First, it could be the unusual result of magma cooling after an eruption.

Second, the metamorphic process of the rock can contribute to its distinctive structure.

"Freya Castle" is about 8 inches (20 cm) wide, loose, and distinct from the underlying bedrock, suggesting it may have come from somewhere other than the ancient bedrock within Jezero Crater.

One possibility is that the rock may have rolled down from somewhere on the rim of Jezero Crater, which is a giant impact crater.

NASA says it is excited about the hypothesis and hopes Perseverance will find the answer as it moves up the slope.

Perseverance has completed four science campaigns on Mars so far and is conducting a fifth campaign called "Operation Crater Rim ," surveying the high rim of Jezero Crater.

This entire crater-like terrain of Mars contains an ancient "plain of life" within , where NASA concludes that there was once a system of rivers and lakes very similar to those on Earth.

That's also why Perseverance, a robotic lander equipped with tools to analyze samples and look for signs of life, is here.

It has made potentially groundbreaking discoveries, including ancient lake sediments that may contain fossilized bacteria.

Anything strange and different could be a treasure that helps Perseverance achieve its main goal.

So Castle Freya is a treasure. It may not contain the remains of life, but it can help scientists understand more about what happened at Jezero Crater and get closer to their main goal.