NASA's Perseverance Mars rover is heading back to an enchanting outcrop of sedimentary rocks the spacecraft first visited back in April.

The team behind the Perseverance rover has recently been carrying out exploration and sampling at "Wildcat Ridge" within Jezero crater, but are now preparing to return to a spot nicknamed "Enchanted Lake." This outcrop formed into thin layers of Martian rock over time as mud, silt and sand in Jerezo Crater solidified. It is of great interest to the Perseverance team, who assess that the formation could be one of the mission's best opportunities to collect rocks that could contain remnants of any ancient microbial life that might once have existed on the Red Planet.

Perseverance is expected to arrive back at the fan-shaped rocks — informally named after a landmark in Alaska's Katmai National Park and Preserve — in early September. By that time, the rover team hopes to have wrapped up work checking to make sure Perseverance's sampling system is clear of any debris.