Evidence of Ancient Lakes on Mars Discovered by NASA’s Perseverance Rover
In a groundbreaking discovery, evidence collected by NASA’s “Perseverance” Mars rover has revealed the presence of ancient lake sediments in Jerezo Crater, suggesting that the massive basin was once flooded with water. The findings, published in the journal Science Advances, were led by a team from UCLA and the University of Oslo.
The data, collected by the ground-penetrating radar of Perseverance, confirmed the existence of ancient lakes on Mars. The radar was able to obtain cross-sectional views of rock formations 65 feet deep, detecting obvious discontinuities in the underground structure as the rover passed through the contact between the bottom of the impact crater and the delta.
Lead author of the paper, David Paige, stated that the rock formations provide unequivocal evidence of water-borne soil sediments accumulating in Jezero Crater and the delta from a stream that provided the water source, similar to rivers and lakes on Earth. This discovery confirms previous studies that suggested Mars was once warm, moist, and potentially habitable.
Furthermore, some rock samples have been collected by Perseverance and are awaiting to be brought back to Earth during the next Mars exploration mission. Scientists are eager to analyze these deposits, believed to have formed approximately 3 billion years ago, to gain a closer understanding of the geological history of the Jezero Crater.
This groundbreaking discovery not only sheds light on the ancient history of Mars but also raises the possibility of potential habitable conditions in the planet’s past. As scientists continue to analyze the data collected by Perseverance, there are growing hopes of uncovering further evidence of Mars’ ancient past.