The Jake Matijevic Rock

NASA’s Curiosity rover was drawn to this unusual rock during its exploration of the region. The rock, called “Jake Matijevic,” in honor of a well-known engineer, is composed of rare minerals that are generally found at the Earth’s center.

During the 45th and 48th Martian days of operations, the Chemistry and Camera instrument (ChemCam) blasted it with its laser on September 21st, 2012, as well as three days later. ChemCam was used to capture the spherical black and white photos to search for the pits that were created by the laser. The Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer focused on the purple spheres.