Using NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover, a team of scientists, including University of Florida astrobiologist Amy Williams, has collected the first samples of Martian rock that could be returned to Earth, the first step in answering whether the red planet once hosted life.
The rock samples come from the floor of the Jezero crater, which was chosen as a study site because it features a large river delta that once flowed into an ancient lake. Scientists believe that a watery Mars could have supported life billions of years ago.
“These types of environments on Earth are places where life thrives. The goal of exploring the Jezero Delta and Crater is to search these once habitable environments for rocks that may contain evidence of ancient life,” said Williams, professor of geology at the UF. Williams is one of the Perseverance mission’s long-term planners and helps decide where to send the rover and which tests and samples to prioritize.
The mission’s science team presented the results of the exploration of the Jezero Crater floor, including a description of the rock samples collected there, in Science on August 25. The rover is now surveying the river delta to collect additional rock samples for the Mars sample. return mission
Led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Perseverance landed on the floor of Jezero Crater in February 2021. Since then, scientists have explored the geological makeup of the crater floor using a suite of tools aboard the rover that can take photos and analyze the chemical composition of the rocks, as well as see their structure underground.
The science team discovered that the crater floor had eroded more than they expected. The erosion exposed a crater made of rocks formed by lava and magma, known as igneous rocks. Scientists initially expected that lake or delta sedimentary rocks were placed on top of these igneous rocks. It is likely that the softer sedimentary rocks were worn away over eons, leaving the harder igneous rocks behind.
Rocks that scientists analyzed and stored to bring back to Earth have been weathered by water, further evidence of a watery past on Mars.
“We have organisms on Earth that live in very similar rock types,” Williams said. “And aqueous alteration of minerals has the potential to record biosignatures.”
NASA and the European Space Agency plan to return the rock samples to Earth around 2033. The ambitious plan calls for building the first vehicle that can launch from the surface of Mars and rendezvous with an orbiter that transports the samples to Earth.
The benefit of this Herculean task will be very detailed studies of the rock samples that cannot be performed on the rover. These studies include measuring the age of rocks and looking for signs of ancient life. Because rock samples taken from the crater floor probably predate the river delta, dating these rocks will provide important information about the age of the lake.
“I’m excited for what’s next,” Williams said.
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