In a groundbreaking revelation, NASA’s Perseverance rover has potentially uncovered traces of life on Mars through the discovery of an ancient lake bed beneath its wheels. The findings, derived from the exploration of Mars’ Jezero crater, suggest that microbial fossils might already be in the rover’s grasp, pending the retrieval of samples.
Mars’ Hidden Secrets: Unraveling the Jezero Crater’s Watery Past
As Perseverance delves into the mysteries of the Red Planet, its ground-penetrating radar has unveiled a fascinating chapter in Mars’ history. The Jezero crater, where the rover landed in February 2021 accompanied by its now-retired helicopter companion Ingenuity, once cradled a substantial body of water. The radar’s scans exposed layers of sediment, remnants of a bygone lake that transformed into a colossal delta after the water’s retreat.
Fossilized Hopes: Seeking Signs of Ancient Life
The tantalizing prospect emerges that the samples collected by Perseverance might harbor evidence of ancient life on Mars. The dried-up Jezero crater could become a treasure trove of fossilized remnants, shedding light on the possibility that life once flourished on the desolate planet. These groundbreaking findings were officially published on Jan. 26 in the journal Science Advances.
Lead study author David Paige, a professor of planetary science at UCLA, emphasizes the significance of exploring below the Martian surface: “From orbit we can see a bunch of different deposits, but we can’t tell for sure if what we’re seeing is their original state, or if we’re seeing the conclusion of a long geological story. To tell how these things formed, we need to see below the surface.”
Perseverance’s Role in the Quest for Martian Life
At the heart of NASA’s $2.7 billion Mars 2020 mission, the car-sized Perseverance rover, alongside the older Curiosity rover, has tirelessly scoured the 30-mile (48 kilometers) expanse of the Jezero crater. Its mission: to unearth signs of ancient life on Mars by collecting rock samples for future return to Earth.
For three years, the rover was accompanied by the Ingenuity helicopter, which concluded its 72nd and final flight over the Martian surface on Jan. 18.
Unraveling Martian Mysteries with Advanced Technology
Equipped with seven scientific instruments, including the cutting-edge Radar Imager for Mars’ Subsurface Experiment (RIMFAX), Perseverance has played a pivotal role in mapping the Martian terrain. RIMFAX, firing radar pings every 4 inches (10 centimeters) into the Martian crust, constructed a comprehensive map of pulses reflecting from depths of about 66 feet (20 meters) below the crater’s surface.
The radar map has now laid bare the existence of sediments, confirming past suspicions, indicative of the crater’s bygone era as a water-filled basin. These sediments, transported by a river and forming a massive delta, underwent two distinct phases of erosion after being deposited.
Martian Environment Changes: A Chronicle in Stone
“The changes we see preserved in the rock record are driven by large-scale changes in the Martian environment,” notes Paige. “It’s cool that we can see so much evidence of change in such a small geographic area, which allows us to extend our findings to the scale of the entire crater.”
Water, the Key to Martian Life?
Given the fundamental dependence of life on Earth on water, the presence of water on Mars could be a crucial clue to the planet’s past habitation or the potential for existing life. However, concrete evidence of life on the harsh Martian terrain remains elusive.
To bring Perseverance’s valuable cargo back to Earth, the rover awaits the European Space Agency’s (ESA) planned Sample Retrieval Lander. This spacecraft, equipped with a small rocket, will carry the rover’s rock and soil samples into orbit before launching them back to Earth. The ESA’s Earth-return orbiter (ERO) is slated to retrieve the sample in 2028, with a projected arrival on Earth in 2033 at the earliest.
