NASAs Mars rover Perseverance has captured the most detailed image ever taken on the surface of the Red Planet, and it shows an ancient river delta in Jezero Crater where have scientists identified organic matter.
Scientists believe that around 3.5 billion years ago, this area featured a river that flowed into a lake at the crater, depositing sediments in a fan shape to form a delta.
“We picked the Jezero Crater for Perseverance to explore because we thought it had the best chance of providing scientifically excellent samples – and now we know we sent the rover to the right location,” Thomas Zurbuchen, NASAs associate administrator for science in Washington, said in a statement. “These first two science campaigns have yielded an amazing diversity of samples to bring back to Earth by the Mars Sample Return campaign.”
In a video narrated by Rachel Kronyak, a member of the Perseverance science operations team, different parts of the panorama are described in detail.
Perseverance spent the first year of its mission on the floor of Jezero Crater, and its wheel tracks are visible in the image. A cliff comprised of layered rocks can be seen, including broken pieces that have tumbled down into the crater.
Notable features include a fallen boulder dubbed Bettys Rock, and a nearby “balanced rock” shaped by wind erosion, which appears to have a small, round rock balanced atop a precariously angled boulder.
Below the cliffs, an area called Hogwallow Flats features fine-grained rocks, which are a prime place to look for evidence of ancient life. The Perseverance team planned to conduct five “abrasions” to expose fresh rock to analyze. The remains of a failed attempt are visible where the soft rock crumbled.
The team ultimately achieved a successful abrasion test at Skinner Ridge, and acquired two rock core samples. In total, the rover has collected four samples from the ancient river delta since July 7.
One of those is “a mudstone that includes intriguing organic compounds,” collected on Wildcat Ridge, said Perseverance project scientist Ken Farley of Caltech in Pasadena, California.
Unlike evidence of organic matter previously detected on Mars, scientists say the sediments, salts, and water at Wildcat Ridge would have provided conditions conducive to life.
“The fact the organic matter was found in such a sedimentary rock – known for preserving fossils of ancient life here on Earth – is important. However, as capable as our instruments aboard Perseverance are, further conclusions regarding what is contained in the Wildcat Ridge sample will have to wait until its returned to Earth for in-depth study as part of the agencys Mars Sample Return campaign,” Farley said.
