The Perseverance rover has taken a “look at something no one’s ever seen” scraping away at rocks on the surface of Mars.

The rover has been on the Red Planet since 25 October, examining the South Séítah region of the Jezero Crater, as part of Nasa’s search for extraterrestrial life – but took a brief pause recently during solar conjunction, where the sun blocked communication between Earth and Mars for the space agency.

As well as looking for microbial life, the rover will also collect samples of Martian geology so scientists can develop a more accurate history of the planet’s climate.

It used its abrading tool to scrape away at the foreign rocks to investigate the minerals inside.

“Peering inside to look at something no one’s ever seen. I’ve abraded a small patch of this rock to remove the surface layer and get a look underneath. Zeroing in on my next target for #SamplingMars,” read a post from the rover’s official Twitter account.

Read more: yahoo