NASA’s mobile laboratory has launched a key part of its scientific expedition on Mars – the search for traces of life.
There used to be water on Mars. And where there is running water, there can be life. It may or may not.
Whether life really existed on Mars is now trying to find out the rover Perseverance.
The six-wheeled robotic vehicle began to climb the dry delta near the crater, aptly named Lake, where it landed last February. From time to time, he stops to examine rocks that appear to contain evidence of possible microbial life on the planet in its ancient past.
I’m headed westward, skirting the lower part of the river delta on the lookout for good rock targets for #SamplingMars. Soon, I may get my first real taste of the delta.
More on my sampling strategy in this week’s blog: https://t.co/rjnDDF6VSI pic.twitter.com/vgT0HFELMK
— NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) May 19, 2022
On its way back down, Perseverance collects some of these stones and places the samples in such places that they can be brought from there to Earth by later robotic missions, sometime in the late decade.
The place where the Martian water flowed
Years ago, astronomers assumed that the crater had been flooded in the past. That is why they named it Jezero, which is a word that has the same meaning in several Slavic languages - in addition to Czech, also in Croatian and Serbian.
Older images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter satellite have indicated the existence of a lake and a river flowing into it. They showed layers of rock, the protrusions of which form a fan, which is formed when the river flows into stagnant water. In other words, they revealed a river delta.
A bird’s eye view of the delta area that Perseverance is now exploring. | source: Profimedia.cz
Rover Perseverance confirmed the experts’ assumptions in recent months: An analysis of the images he took showed that 3.7 billion years ago, there was a large circular lake in the crater, almost fifty kilometers in diameter and up to 600 meters deep. He was fed by water from the river.
“Delta in Crater Lake is the main astrobiological target of Perseverance. It is a place that we think has the highest potential to contain signs of ancient life, “the website quotes BBC project researcher Katie Stack Morgan.
The flow of water slowed at the mouth of the river that supplied the Lake with water. Therefore, sediments settled there, among which may be fossilized remains of life. Or it doesn’t have to, because the water there may have been too salty or contained life-threatening substances.
A drawing suggesting what the mouth of a river into the Martian crater with the distinctive name Lake might have looked like billions of years ago. | source: Profimedia.cz
We will wait for life confirmation
In addition to drilling machines, Rover is equipped with its own laboratory. He can examine the samples taken. However, its capacity is limited. Laboratories on Earth will need to prove the presence of life that, if it existed on Mars, was probably just microscopic.
“The claim that there is microscopic life in our solar system outside of Earth is astonishing. But we need proof. I don’t think the rover’s lab can give it to us. Rather, it determines the samples that the desired material may contain. We will then subject them to a more sophisticated analysis on Earth, “Jennifer Trosper, head of the Perseverance mission, told the BBC.
Perseverance selfie compiled from several images taken by a rover on Mars. | source: Profimedia.cz
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