Rubies on Mars? Rover finds fluorescent gems for the 1st time

See larger ones. | The Perseverance rover captured this view as it zoomed up to the rim of Jezero Crater on December 5, 2024. The rover has now found rubies on Mars, or perhaps sapphires, small pebbles outside the crater rim. Image still from video by NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ ASU/ MSSS.

NASA’s Perseverance rover has found some small gems with Martian pebbles. They are made of corundum.
Presumably the gems are rubies or sapphires, rover analysis suggests. The jewels were located outside the Jezero Crater.
Meteorite impacts may create gems. On Earth, tectonic activity creates these gems.

Rubies on Mars?

NASA’s Perseverance rover has discovered something never before seen on Mars: fluorescent gems like rubies, or perhaps sapphires. Small grains of gems are in the pebbles near the rim of Jezero Crater. Ann Ollila of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico led the research team. The researchers said that the grain of the stone is made of corundum. In the world, corundum is also known as the mineral ruby or sapphire. The difference depends on the metals in it. It is often associated with tectonic activity.

Leah Crane wrote about the new discovery at Young Scientist on March 18, 2026.

Ollila presented the results at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC 2026) in Texas on March 16, 2026. Two conference papers are available here and here.

The Perseverance rover has found tiny crystals that appear to be rubies or sapphires in the rocks of Mars, where they have never been seen before.

– New Scientist (@newscientist.com) 2026-03-18T22:09:28.131Z

Patience finds fluorescent gems on Mars

Patience found the first gems in a small rock called Hampden River. Later, it found similar gems in two other coves, Coffee Cove and Smiths Harbour. These rocks are outside Jezero Crater, near the rim. These gem grains are tiny, only about 0.008 inches (0.2 mm) in diameter.

The rover used its SuperCam instrument to analyze the rocks, using two different lasers. Lasers can analyze the shape of pebbles. They can also be used to create luminescence – the emission of optical radiation (ultraviolet, visible or infrared) is something due to a process other than heating – if the stones have luminescent materials. And indeed they did… the luminescent light produced showed that the stones contained corundum.

Close-up images of 2 small stones, labeled A and B. They have small yellow circles and red numbers on them. — Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) images of the Hampden River pebbles (top) and Coffee Cove (bottom). The red crosses mark observations by the Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument. Meanwhile, the yellow circles mark those observed by luminescence spectroscopy. Image by NASA/ Sharma et al./ LPSC.

Did meteorite impacts create rubies on Mars?

On Earth, rubies and sapphires are often formed from tectonic activity. But what about Mars? The Earth has some residual tectonic processes now, and it has had a lot of activity in the past. However, it may not be enough to account for the gems. And Mars has never had plate tectonics, the way Earth has. As Ollila explained Young Scientist:

[Corundum] it is often associated, on Earth, with tectonism. It is a very special environment; you must have an environment that is very poor in silica, with a lot of aluminum.

Instead, the researchers said that a meteorite impacting the Martian surface may have formed corundum. Allan Treiman of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Texas said:

I was very surprised. Looking back, one may not be there, because there are outcrops with aluminum in other places in the world and there are consequences, but I thought it was very scary to see this.

Ollila added:

I would love to be able to pick one of them and analyze it and see if it looks red. It’s a shame that all you can see is this white rock.

A smiling woman with long brown hair. — Ann Ollila of Los Alamo National Laboratory led the research team studying the fluorescent gems that Perseverance found. Image in Loop.

Red, almost rectangular, irregularly red crystal. — See larger ones. | It is a naturally occurring ruby crystal on Earth. Photo by Adrian Pingstone/Wikimedia Commons.

Rubies in the world

In our world, rubies are red gemstones made from bright red corundum, a mineral form of aluminum oxide. And the color of rubies can vary from deep cochineal to rose red. In addition, in some cases there is a purple stripe in the rubies. The most important ruby color works

In addition, it is possible to reproduce rubies artificially. These synthetic rubies can have the physical properties of natural corundum. However, they can be distinguished by very small bubbles and striae.

In 2023, scientists report that NASA’s Curiosity rover has also found opal on Mars. Opal is another light that points to the past water in the place and the conditions that could have lived in the past.

Bottom line: Are there rubies on Mars? NASA’s Perseverance rover has found tiny fluorescent gems in rocks that look like rubies or sapphires.

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Source: Supercam Identifies Corundum in Jezero Crater, Mars, Using Time-Resolved Luminescence Spectroscopy

Source: Comprehensive Analysis of R1 and R2 Luminescence Lines of Cr3+ Hampden River and Coffee Cove Rocks at The Jezero Crater’s Rim, Mars

By New Science

Read more: Discovery of opal on Mars increases the chances of life

Read more: Corals on Mars? NASA rover discovers mysterious rocks

Paul Scott Anderson

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About the Author:

Paul Scott Anderson’s passion for space exploration began as a child watching Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. Studied English, writing, art and computer/print design in high school and college. He later started his blog The Meridiani Journal in 2005, which was later renamed Planetaria. He later also started the Fermi Paradoxica blog, about the search for life elsewhere in the universe. Although he is interested in all aspects of space exploration, his main passion is planetary science and SETI. In 2011, he began writing about space as a freelancer with Universe Today. He has also written for SpaceFlight Insider and AmericaSpace and has been published in The Mars Quarterly. He also wrote some additional content for the iOS Exoplanet app. He has been writing for EarthSky since 2018, and also helps with testimonials and social media.

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