Perseverance Rover Finds Ruby-Like Mineral Glowing Red on Mars

NASA’s Perseverance rover has detected corundum on Mars, the mineral structure that makes up rubies when it contains chromium. According to a NASA blog post by Roger C. Wiens, the principal investigator for the rover’s SuperCam instrument, the rover has not found collectable rubies. But the tiny corundum crystals are teaching scientists about the planet’s past.

Wiens, who works at Purdue University, published the post on Nov. 4, 2026.

How did the rover spot it?

Perseverance carries several instruments that can identify minerals, including PIXL, SHERLOC and SuperCam. According to Wiens, they use techniques such as x-ray fluorescence, Raman spectroscopy and infrared spectroscopy.

The corundum was found through a side benefit of how SuperCam performs its Raman measurements: the instrument can also study time-resolved luminescence, meaning light that is given off with a delay. Luminescence normally covers a broad range of wavelengths, and Wiens noted that most commercial lighting on Earth uses it in some way.

Two years ago, the SuperCam team was startled when its laser hit a light-colored rock and produced strong, narrow luminescence peaks at two wavelengths, 692.7 and 694.1 nanometers. Wiens wrote that the glow comes from delayed atomic transitions in chromium atoms sitting in a corundum mineral structure. Because SuperCam can time the delay of the photons, the team could confirm the light came from chromium in corundum.

Why is that a ruby connection?

Wiens explained that the gemstone form of chromium-bearing corundum is ruby. Before SuperCam was installed on the rover, the team put a ruby in the laser beam. He said the whole room pulsed a brilliant red, and the glow was extremely bright.

Has anyone been published on this?

Yes. A team led by Ann Ollila published the results earlier this year in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, according to Wiens.

Why is corundum a surprise on Mars?

Wiens wrote that corundum is a metamorphic and pegmatitic mineral, and scientists would not expect to find it on Mars because the planet lacks plate tectonics. Large meteor and asteroid impacts offer a possible explanation. An impact can cause local metamorphism through long-term heating.

The rover is exploring very ancient terrain near the rim of Jezero crater, so some evidence of localized metamorphism is to be expected there. Wiens noted that Perseverance is the first mission in such terrain, and the team is learning new things as a result.

What has the team changed since the discovery?

Earlier in the mission, the team used the luminescence technique only rarely. More recently, it has carried out time-resolved luminescence observations frequently on light-toned rocks, looking for more evidence of impact effects. Wiens called it great to have this unexpected tool on board as the team looks further into Mars’ deep past.

What this means for the search for Mars’ history

Nobody should expect gemstones to be waiting on the surface. The significance, as Wiens describes it, lies in what the mineral reveals: signs that large impacts heated and altered rock near Jezero crater long ago. A detection method that was not designed as a main feature of the instrument has become a regular part of the rover’s routine for reading ancient rocks.

The result also shows how exploration on Mars can turn up the unexpected, as Wiens put it. A tool built for one measurement turned out to offer another, and the rover now uses it often on light-toned rocks.

What happens next?

The team plans to keep running the luminescence observations on light-toned rocks, with the aim of gathering more evidence of impact effects in the ancient terrain near the crater rim.

Read next
Curiosity Rover Drills Rock Packed With Possible Crystals on Mars
Mars Rover Prepares to Drill Rock Studded With Strange Discs and Needles
A Gemstone Buried Deep Inside Mars May Explain Its Strangely Rusty Rocks

Around Prague, based on reporting by NASA