New Study Suggests Perseverance Rover Will Likely Find Traces of Ancient Life on Mars
A groundbreaking new study published in Science Advances has revealed that if life ever thrived on Mars, the Perseverance rover will most likely find evidence of it in Jezero Crater, where it has been exploring since arriving in February 2021. The study, led by scientists at the Universities of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Oslo, analyzed data collected by the rover, indicating that the crater was once full of water and formed an enormous delta.
The research suggests that the periods of sediment deposition and erosion in the crater took place over billions of years, during which numerous environmental changes occurred. David Paige, the first author of the study, explained, “If there was ever life there, its footprint must have been left imprinted on one of the sedimentary layers.”
Perseverance, equipped with seven scientific instruments, has been studying the geology and characteristics of the crater, as well as collecting soil samples for a future mission to bring to Earth. The rover’s movement from the bottom of the crater towards the delta has provided valuable insight into the geological features of the area.
Radar data from the Rover Imager for Mars’ Subsurface Experiment (RIMFAX) instrument has enabled detailed mapping of the subsurface, revealing ancient crater floors now buried. The images show two distinct periods of sediment deposition interspersed with periods of erosion, confirming the existence of lacustrine sediments.
“The changes we see preserved in the rock record are driven by large-scale changes in the Martian environment,” said Paige. “It’s great that we can see so much evidence of change in such a small geographical area, allowing us to extend our findings to the scale of the entire crater.”
These findings reinforce the hope that the soil samples collected by Perseverance will contain traces of ancient Martian life, bringing scientists closer to unlocking the mysteries of the Red Planet.