JAKARTA – The Perseverance rover robot has just received assistance when searching for various rock samples from ancient rivers on Planet Mars, and can be brought to Earth for deeper investigation.
The sample was obtained by NASA’s Perseverance in a place nicknamed the Emerald Lake. This rock then drilled out of outcrop consists of small chunks brought from elsewhere by these ancient rivers, and deposited here, where they were cemented together.
After obtaining it, Perseverance then placed it in a vial and sealed it containing the 20th rock core sample on June 23 (the day, or sol, of the 832nd Mars mission).
According to NASA, Emerald Lake packs a wealth of information about places explorers might never have visited, with each new piece of rock representing a geological story to study.
“Gravel and boulders found in the river are messengers from afar,” said Perseverance project scientist from Caltech in Pasadena, Ken Farley in a statement, quoted Thursday, July 20.
“And while the water that created the riverbeds of Mars that Perseverance is currently exploring evaporated billions of years ago, the story that water carries remains fresh, preserved in conglomerate rock.”
Perseverance’s goal is to collect these samples so they can be brought to Earth by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) in the Mars Sample Return campaign.
Then, it will be studied by laboratory equipment on Earth and returned to Mars. With these rock samples, scientists will be able to see every pebble and fragment in the core, which is called Otis Peak.
This is to determine details such as its age, environmental conditions in the river when the conglomerate formed, and whether it contains signs of ancient or microbial life.
Now in its third science campaign, Perseverance is scaling the top of a fan-shaped pile of sedimentary rock that is 40 meters high to make its way to a low ridge called Snowdrift Peak.
As with the rock fragments in the Otis Peak sample, scientists believe the boulders most likely formed elsewhere and were transported to their present location billions of years ago by an ancient river.
Boulders are also desirable to scientists, because their large surface area can be visually investigated, potentially different in a single image.
“Whether the stones look interesting enough for closer examination and possible sampling remains to be seen – literally,” said Farley.
“We are taking a page from the past. Gold or diamond prospectors in the past often looked to the river to determine if there were deposits of flowers upstream. No need to climb up there to see – let the river do the work,” he added.
Tags: nasa perversion mars outer space
2023-07-20 17:10:00
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