Perseverance has sampled seven sedimentary rocks in Jezero Crater which confirm that the ancient lake was once habitable.
This Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image shows Jezero Crater, with Perseverance's landing site and the Fan Front feature. Rocks from the Fan Front sampled in 2022 show evidence of water that predates life on Earth. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/JHU-APL
“These rocks confirm the presence, at least temporarily, of habitable environments on Mars,” said lead author Bosak. “What we’ve found is that indeed there was a lot of water activity. For how long, we don’t know, but certainly for long enough to create these big sedimentary deposits.” While the samples were placed in sealed tubes for eventual return to Earth, Perseverance also abraded the rock next to each sample location, allowing the rover to analyze the mineral content of the rocks.
gives the local context for the Amalik outcrop, where two samples were taken. shows the workspace after sampling and abrasion. The white arrow on the left shows where the Mageik sample was taken. The center arrow shows how the rock was fractured when the Shuyak core was sampled. The arrow on the right shows the Novarupta abrasion. is a close-up of the abrasion patch. Image Credit: Bosak et al. 2024.
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