{"id":9746,"date":"2023-12-12T18:06:29","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T22:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zobi.alcowep.com\/bourtagshdrevxnls658739\/nasas-perseverance-rover-deciphers-ancient-history-of-martian-lake\/"},"modified":"2023-12-12T18:06:29","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T22:06:29","slug":"nasas-perseverance-rover-deciphers-ancient-history-of-martian-lake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zobi.alcowep.com\/bourtagshdrevxnls658739\/nasas-perseverance-rover-deciphers-ancient-history-of-martian-lake\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s Perseverance Rover Deciphers Ancient History of Martian Lake"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA\u2019s Perseverance Rover Deciphers Ancient History of Martian Lake<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n
This 360-degree mosaic from the \u201cAirey Hill\u201d location inside Jezero Crater was generated using 993 individual images taken by the Perseverance Mars rover\u2019s Mastcam-Z from Nov. 3-6. The rover remained parked at Airey Hill for several weeks during solar conjunction.<\/div>\n
NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/ASU\/MSSS<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Now at 1,000 days on Mars, the mission has traversed an ancient river and lake system, collecting valuable samples along the way.<\/em><\/p>\n

Marking its 1,000th Martian day on the Red Planet, NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover recently completed its exploration of the ancient river delta that holds evidence of a lake that filled Jezero Crater billions of years ago. The six-wheeled scientist has to date collected a total of 23 samples<\/a>, revealing the geologic history of this region of Mars in the process.<\/p>\n

One sample called \u201cLefroy Bay\u201d contains a large quantity of fine-grained silica, a material known to preserve ancient fossils on Earth. Another, \u201cOtis Peak,\u201d holds a significant amount of phosphate, which is often associated with life as we know it. Both of these samples are also rich in carbonate, which can preserve a record of the environmental conditions from when the rock was formed.<\/p>\n

The discoveries were shared Tuesday, Dec. 12, at the American Geophysical Union fall meeting in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe picked Jezero Crater as a landing site because orbital imagery showed a delta \u2013 clear evidence that a large lake once filled the crater. A lake is a potentially habitable environment, and delta rocks are a great environment for entombing signs of ancient life as fossils in the geologic record,\u201d said Perseverance\u2019s project scientist, Ken Farley of Caltech. \u201cAfter thorough exploration, we\u2019ve pieced together the crater\u2019s geologic history, charting its lake and river phase from beginning to end.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"This<\/figure>
\n
This image of Mars\u2019 Jezero Crater is overlaid with mineral data detected from orbit. The green color represents carbonates \u2013 minerals that form in watery environments with conditions that might be favorable for preserving signs of ancient life. NASA\u2019s Perseverance is currently exploring the green area above Jezero\u2019s fan (center).<\/div>\n
NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/MSSS\/JHU-APL<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Jezero formed from an asteroid impact almost 4 billion years ago. After Perseverance landed in February 2021, the mission team discovered the crater floor is made of igneous rock<\/a> formed from magma underground or from volcanic activity at the surface. They have since found sandstone and mudstone, signaling the arrival of the first river in the crater hundreds of millions of years later. Above these rocks are salt-rich mudstones, signaling the presence of a shallow lake experiencing evaporation. The team thinks the lake eventually grew as wide as 22 miles (35 kilometers) in diameter and as deep as 100 feet (30 meters).<\/p>\n

Later, fast-flowing water carried in boulders from outside Jezero, distributing them atop of the delta and elsewhere in the crater<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were able to see a broad outline of these chapters in Jezero\u2019s history in orbital images, but it required getting up close with Perseverance to really understand the timeline in detail,\u201d said Libby Ives, a postdoctoral fellow at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which manages the mission.<\/p>\n

Enticing Samples<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The samples Perseverance gathers are about as big as a piece of classroom chalk and are stored in special metal tubes as part of the Mars Sample Return campaign<\/a>, a joint effort by NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). Bringing the tubes to Earth would enable scientists to study the samples with powerful lab equipment too large to take to Mars.<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>
This animated artist\u2019s concept depicts water breaking through the rim of Mars\u2019 Jezero Crater, which NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover is now exploring. Water entered the crater billions of years ago, forming a lake, delta, and rivers before the Red Planet dried up. NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To decide which samples to collect, Perseverance first uses an abrasion tool to wear away a patch of a prospective rock and then studies the rock\u2019s chemistry using precision science instruments, including the JPL-built Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry, or PIXL.<\/p>\n

At a target the team calls \u201cBills Bay,\u201d PIXL spotted carbonates \u2013 minerals that form in watery environments with conditions that might be favorable for preserving organic molecules. (Organic molecules form by both geological and biological processes.) These rocks were also abundant with silica, a material that\u2019s excellent at preserving organic molecules, including those related to life.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Earth, this fine-grained silica is what you often find in a location that was once sandy,\u201d said JPL\u2019s Morgan Cable, the deputy principal investigator of PIXL. \u201cIt\u2019s the kind of environment where, on Earth, the remains of ancient life could be preserved and found later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perseverance\u2019s instruments are capable of detecting both microscopic, fossil-like structures and chemical changes that may have been left by ancient microbes, but they have yet to see evidence for either.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"PIXL,<\/figure>
\n
PIXL, one of the instruments aboard NASA\u2019s Perseverance Mars rover, analyzed the chemical makeup of an area of abraded rock dubbed \u201cOuzel Falls,\u201d finding it rich in minerals containing phosphate, a material found in the DNA and cell membranes of all known life.<\/div>\n
NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/MSSS<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"Analyzing<\/figure>
\n
Analyzing this abraded rock patch dubbed \u201cBills Bay,\u201d the PIXL instrument on NASA\u2019s Perseverance Mars rover found it rich in carbonates (purple) and silica (green), both of which are good at preserving signs of ancient life. The image is overlaid with the instrument\u2019s chemical data.<\/div>\n
NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/MSSS<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t