Posted on 05/23/2026 9:41:27 AM PDT by Red Badger
NASA's Mars Perseverance rover has stumbled across an unusual sight: a stack of rocks on the Martian surface.
How did they end up this way? Did Perseverance knock them over? So many questions.
What is it? Perseverance, or Percy for short, captured this bizarre image of rocks stacked on Mars on May 13(or Sol 1859, the rover's 1,859th day on the Red Planet). The image was captured with the rover's Mastcam-Z camera — a pair of two cameras located high up on the rover's mast, looking almost like a pair of eyes that the craft sees through.
You may have seen rock stacks like this while hiking, and while there can sometimes be reason to knock them over, some serve as important trail markers, according to the National Parks Service.
But this rock stack isn't pointing the way on any hiking trail. Instead, it's sitting strangely on the surface of the Red Planet appearing as three rocks stacked on top of one another, almost like a sandwich, in the middle of the dusty, reddish terrain.
However, it's more likely that what we're seeing is actually one rock that broke apart this way due to wind erosion or being exposed to flowing water on ancient Mars. Based on observations made by NASA's other Mars rover, Curiosity, scientists suspect that winds are the primary force of geological change on Mars, wearing down rocks over hundreds of millions or even billions of years.
Why is it incredible? This isn't the first strange rock we've seen on the surface of Mars. Everything from a sphere-studded rock to bizarre evenly-spaced rocks and even a striped rock have been found by NASA's Mars rovers, sparking curiosity along the way. Conspiracies even arose when a photo from NASA's Viking mission in 1976 revealed a rocky site that, to some, resembled a human head and face.
While it's fun to explore and entertain the "what ifs" when we stumble across something new or unusual, getting to the real answer can be even more interesting.
No humans have ever been to Mars (yet), so we can be certain a rogue hiker didn't stack these rocks up for fun. But uncovering the true backstory of these rocks and their appearance on Mars can help scientists to better understand the planet's history and inner workings.
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I suspect that this is the work of the
Monty Python Royal Society For Putting Things On Top of Other Things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFrdqQZ8FFc
Harder rock is deposited on top of a layer of softer rock. Chunk falls off and erodes at different rates.
They should have just said he smokes weed in it. That would be OK.
Geodesic claims boundary. Part of the General Mining Act of 1872. Few people realize how strong “gold fever” can be.
Then why help them kill themselves? What do you gain other than a perverse pleasure? You must have been the school bully.
Just stop. I’m not killing anyone, or even putting anyone at risk, so quit the whole drama-queen bit. If the hapless hikers lose the trail, they should know enough to turn back, and if they don’t, they’re endangering themselves. Same as if nobody had ever built the silly little markers in the first place.
As for what I get out of it, I’m improving the appearance of the trail. No perverse pleasure involved at all.
Agree. First look, seems to be one rock. But I’m no expert on Mars. Is anyone?
This comes from your selfish opinion. You could, indeed, be hurting someone. You just STOP IT.
David was practicing there and forgot his ammo.
Gohd?
The Horta. Those are her babies.
I’m surprised nobody posted a pic of the Rock Monster from Galaxy Quest.
Obviously the author never watched Roadrunner/Wile E. Coyote cartoons.
Saying “stack” implies that someone stacked them. Actually it’s one rock with horizontal cracks, as another freeper posted.
OK. Who is responsible for stacking these stones in Utah? Fess up! Nobody is taking the blame? Must have been aliens!
The rocks were placed there by Gorignak. Trespass at your peril.
Could, eh? That's the excuse for every wild conjecture out there. "Well, global warming COULD cause the ice caps to melt overnight. It COULD happen!"
Anyway, I'll keep doing what I do until someone can demonstrate to me that it actually puts anyone at all to any real risk. Not coulds and maybes and what-ifs and vanishingly small probabilities.
So you do what you want, and I'll do what I want. If you think (in your own selfish opinion) that little piles of rocks improve the appearance of a trail, pile them up. If I happen along, I'm very likely to kick them down, because my opinion differs.
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