On its 1,000th day on Mars, the Perseverance probe has completed its survey of an area where scientists believe there was an ancient lake. The study also collected a series of samples that led to an intriguing finding.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) calls him a “six-wheeled scientist”. Round Perseverance, a small rover controlled from Earth, collected a total of 23 samples and revealed part of the “geologic history of that region of Mars.”
Diligence explored an ancient river system that contained evidence of a lake. Scientists believe the Lake Jezero crater was filled billions of years ago, according to NASA.
“We chose Jezero Crater as the landing site because orbital images showed a delta, clear evidence of a large lake filling the crater,” explained Ken Farley, Perseverance project scientist.
A delta is a low-lying, flat area of land, sometimes triangular in shape, where a stream divides into several smaller rivers before joining the sea.
For scientists, the presence of a lake represents a “potential environment for life.” “Delta rocks are an excellent environment for finding signs of ancient life in fossil form,” Farley explained.
“After careful study, we have reconstructed the geological history of the crater, charting its lacustrine and fluvial phase from beginning to end,” says Farley.
The samples collected by the probe contain elements that will help scientists better understand the history of craters on Mars. For example, a sample called “Lefroy Bay” contains fine silica, a substance known to preserve ancient fossils on Earth.
Another sample collected, “Otis Peak,” “contains significant amounts of phosphate, often associated with life as we know it,” NASA says.
Both samples are rich in carbonate, which preserves a record of environmental conditions from the time the rock formed.
“We have the best conditions to find signs of ancient life, where there are carbonates and phosphates, which indicate an aquatic and habitable environment, as well as silica, which acts as a preservative,” said Morgan Gable, another scientist on the research team. .
How will samples be transported to Earth?
NASA explained that samples collected by the Persistence Survey will be stored in metal tubes to measure the limescale and preserve them properly.
However, diligence is well equipped to collect and discover elements essential to its research.
For example, NASA explained that the probe’s instruments are “capable of detecting both microscopic fossil-like structures and chemical changes left behind by ancient microbes.” However, diligence has yet to find specimens of either.
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