TRIBUNTRAVEL.COM – NASA’s rover robot, Perseverance, landed on Mars in February 2021.
Since then, Perseverance has continued to collect samples to look for signs of life on Mars.
NASA’s robot explorer, Perseverance, discovered that a large crater on Mars was once a lake. (Flickr/Kevin Gill)
Perseverance has spent the last three years exploring the Jezero crater, as reported on the page allthatsinteresting.comSunday (17/12/2023).
Measuring 28 miles wide, the Jezero crater was formed by an asteroid impact nearly four billion years ago.
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While exploring the site and looking for samples, Perseverance found evidence that the vast crater was actually once a lake.
“Lakes are potentially habitable environments, and delta rocks are a great environment for preserving signs of ancient life as fossils in the geological record,” said a NASA press release.
“After thorough exploration, we have compiled the geological history of the crater, mapping the lake and river phases from beginning to end,” added the press release.
Scientists were able to put together a detailed timeline of the lake’s history, separated into three distinct periods.
In the first period, fine sand and mud known to preservative of life fossils entered the crater.
Also read: NASA’s Perseverance Robot Finally Performs First Exploration on the Surface of the Planet Mars
Subsequently, layers of sediment formed as the lake expanded, stretching 22 miles and reaching depths of 100 feet.
Eventually, “high-energy rivers” were formed that carried large rocks across the surface of Mars.
“We can see the outlines of these chapters in Jezero’s history in orbital images, but it will take persistence to truly understand the timeline in detail,” said Libby Ives, a post-doctoral fellow at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
NASA’s robot explorer, Perseverance, discovered that a large crater on Mars was once a lake. (Image by WikiImages from Pixabay)
During 1,000 days on Mars, Perseverance has collected 23 rock samples from the crater.
The robot drills into the ground and pulls out chunks of rock the size of a stick of chalk.
Source: Tribun Travel
2023-12-17 07:13:00
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