![]() 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 it’s returned to Earth for in-depth study as part of the agency’s Mars Sample Return campaign.” “The fact the organic matter was found in such a sedimentary rock – known for preserving fossils of ancient life here on Earth – is important. “In the distant past, the sand, mud, and salts that now make up the Wildcat Ridge sample were deposited under conditions where life could potentially have thrived,” Farley said. It likely formed in saltwater as ancient lake water evaporated. The Wildcat Ridge rock is mudstone that includes organic material. During its second campaign to study the delta over the past five months, Perseverance has found rich sedimentary rock layers that add more to the story of Mars’ ancient climate and environment. The rover investigated the crater floor and found evidence of igneous, or volcanic, rock. The fan-shaped geological feature, once present where a river converged with a lake, preserves layers of Martian history in sedimentary rock, which formed when particles fused together in this formerly water-filled environment. The site of the delta makes Jezero Crater, which spans 28 miles (45 kilometers), of particularly high interest to NASA scientists. ![]() Currently, the rover contains 12 rock samples.Ī series of missions called Mars Sample Return will eventually take the collection back to Earth in the 2030s. Perseverance is collecting rock samples that could have preserved these telltale biosignatures. The rover’s mission, which began on the red planet 18 months ago, includes looking for signs of ancient microbial life. “The rocks that we have been investigating on the delta have the highest concentration of organic matter that we have yet found on the mission,” said Ken Farley, Perseverance project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Perseverance uses its robotic arm to work around a rocky outcrop called Skinner Ridge.
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