NASA
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Illustration of Jezero Crater on the planet Mars.
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Nationalgeographic.co.id—explorer robot NASA’s Perseverance made a surprising discovery. Amid a number of findings announced last week at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, scientists have revealed that Kawah Lake on Mars formed from molten volcanic magma. In addition, they also conveyed that organic molecules have been found in the rock and dust at the bottom of the crater.
This is by no means evidence of life on Mars. Organic compounds are simply compounds that contain carbon-hydrogen bonds, and these can be formed through a number of non-biological processes. Indeed, organic compounds have been discovered on Mars before, either by explorer robot Curiosity and the Mars Express orbiter.
But the findings suggest that Martian rocks can well preserve these compounds, which in turn suggests that biological organic matter can also be preserved. And that is quite encouraging info.
Also Read: Beautiful Scenery on Planet Mars: Frozen Crater to Giant Volcano
“Curiosity also found organic material at its landing site inside Gale Crater,” said planetary scientist Luther Beegle of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Science Alert.
The new detection was carried out using a new instrument at Perseverance called Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals, or SHERLOC for short.
“What SHERLOC adds to this story is its ability to map the spatial distribution of organics within rocks and relate those organics to the minerals found there,” explains Beegle. “This helps us understand the environment in which the organics formed. Further analysis needs to be done to determine production methods for the organics identified.”
Perseverance landed on the red planet last February in a region called Jezero Crater. This place is thought to have been flooded with water, and is rich in clay minerals.
These characteristics of the crater are very important to the Perseverance mission. That’s because, in the first expedition to Mars, a robotic rover has been tasked with searching for signs of ancient life and that may exist near water.
During its mission on Mars, the Perseverance rover robot is equipped with 43 tubes in which it will store geological samples from Mars, to be retrieved and returned to Earth in a future mission called Mars Sample Return. Of course, the sample space will be limited, so Perseverance is also equipped with a set of scientific instruments to perform in situ analysis.
The SHERLOC instrument, for example, is able to detect combinations of organic minerals in Jezero Crater. This tool can analyze not only organic minerals in rocks scraped by robotic explorers to study their internal contents, but also in the dust that lines the crater floor.
Another tool in Perseverance is the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL). This instrument allows scientists on Earth to study the origin of the bedrock at Jezero Crater. After sampling the core in the region dubbed “Brac”, the PIXL data clearly shows the presence of olivine crystals embedded in the pyroxene crystals.
On Earth, such mineral configurations come from igneous rocks. This indicates that the bottom of the Jezero crater was formed from hot magma.
But to confirm further we need to wait a while until the complete samples collected from Mars are brought to Earth on the Mars Sample Return mission for further investigation by scientists on Earth.
“When these samples are returned to Earth, they will be the source of many years of scientific investigation and discovery,” said Beegle.
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