NASA Perseverance, along with a curious companion, went to Mars for four months.

It seems that since February, although they didn’t know until March, Perseverance has a traveling companion who accompanies him on all his raids. We are talking about a small stone, which, apparently, could hook this researcher, although it doesn’t cause any mobility issues.

The stone in question is on the left front wheel of the vehicle and so far he has traveled over 8.5 kilometers across the landscape. At the moment it seems that the stone does not damage the wheel, but only often appears on the left hazkam used to detect obstacles in the terrain.

It should be noted that this is not the first time this has happened, as a slightly larger rock slipped into the Spirit rover 18 years ago and had to be removed. On the other hand, Curiosity has also been targeted by several rocks on wheels.

Despite all this, the Perseverance, unlike its other counterparts, is equipped with very strong aluminum wheels that are resistant to almost all kinds of problems of this type.

Besides, there the probability that the rock will come off the rover as it ascends to the edge of the crater (Lazero), where it goes to look for signs of microbial life and mix with the rest of the deposits.

Eleni Ravanis, a student fellow at Perseverance, calls for a message to be sent to any future geologist who maps this crater: “If you find a stone that looks out of place, you may be looking at Perseverance’s former favorite stone!”

We have to wait for now, as the samples collected by Perseverance will be stored and then returned to Earth with a return mission scheduled for the early 2030s. Recall that it only takes 2 years to cross the arid lands of Mars (the mission started in 2020).