NASA’s Perseverance Rover continues its mission to explore the surface of Mars in search of signs of ancient life: Shutterstock, Triff
Two of NASA’s robot explorers, patience and curiosity, made individual but equally exciting discoveries on Mars.
Operating more than 2,000 miles away, the car-sized rover has been exploring ancient craters for years. Their latest findings, created in March, make scientists more curious than ever.
Perseverance Rover discovers an unusual spherical rock on Mars
While traveling along the edge of Jezero Crater, perseverance came across a distinctive rock formation on March 11th. By the ‘St. Paul’s Bay’ mission team, the rock is covered with hundreds of small dark gray spheres.
NASA shared detailed images a few days later, filmed on the Rover Supercam, and the discovery prompted scientific excitement. Similar spherical formations have been discovered previously on Mars, often explained as a result of groundwater movement through rock pores, which appear to be different.
What stands out? Scientists believe the rocks are out of place and possibly linked to the dark tone geological layers previously discovered from the orbit by NASA’s Mars reconnaissance orbit.
“Understanding where this rock came from could help unlock the geological history of Jezero’s edge.
Curiosity Rover finds the largest organic compound on Mars
Meanwhile, in Gail Crater, the veteran curiosity rover made his own discoveries. This time, we will be reanalyzing an old sample known as “Cumberland.” Originally excavated from an area called Yellowknife Bay in 2013, the powder lock was recently scanned again using an upgraded technique.
The results were amazing. It is the largest organic molecule ever seen on Mars. These molecules, considered to be fragments of fatty acids, are known on Earth as important components of biological life, but can also be formed through non-biological processes.
“The strongest evidence ever is that Mars’ organic chemistry could have once supported life, or at least moved in that direction,” NASA said.
Cumberland was already intrigued by scientists for its clay-rich structure (which is usually formed in water) and the presence of sulfur, another essential element in the building blocks of life.
NASA plans to bring samples of Mars rock back to Earth
Curiosity and perseverance steadily collect samples across each crater. This is a total of 42 for curiosity and over two dozen for perseverance, some of which are safely stored at sample depots on the surface of Mars.
At present, attention is being paid to bringing these samples back to Earth. There, labs can analyze them using much more powerful equipment than those riding on a rover.
“We’re ready to take the next big step,” said Daniel Glavin, a senior NASA scientist. “It’s time to take a sample of Mars home and finally solve the question of whether life existed in Red Planet.”
The answer may be trapped in a rock on Mars – and if everything goes to plan, Earth’s scientists may have it in their hands in just a few years.
