The Perseverance rover has uncovered a compelling cerise rock on Mars that contains blobs of green , hinting at the rock ’s musical composition .
The “ enigmatic ” rock candy , as NASA report it in apress release , could not be interrogated to the full due to the rover ’s instrument not make enough room to work in . But the features do tip at how they form on an ancient , wetter Mars .
Perseverancearrived on Mars in February 2021with a primal finish : investigate a dry - up river delta on the boundary of a multi - billion - year - old lake forsigns of ancient microbic life . Mars is the only world in our solar system where space representation have fighting landers driving around the satellite ’s surface , imaging and digging up grounds of its ancient past .
An abrasion patch in Mars' Serpentine Rapids.Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Though Mars has much more extreme temperature fluctuations than our major planet , and is much more arid , scientist believe it had large lakes of limpid piddle on its Earth’s surface gazillion of age ago . One of those lakes was in Jezero Crater , in which Perseverance landed three years ago .
Since then , Perseverance has trekked across Jezero ’s western edge , imaging the planet and scooping up rock cores andsome Martian atmospherethat will eventually be ship to Earth , pendinga destiny of funding — and even more determination .
The canonic idea behind Perseverance ’s astrobiological search is that , if life exist on Mars , it would ’ve looked like some of the early life on Earth : microbes that eked out existence in shallow pee . These germ form aqueous concretions — layer of rock ‘n’ roll — as they go about their lives , which then fossilize in warped , Sol Lewitt - like formula . Those stone fogy are call stromatolites , and theystill form on Earth today . originally this year , a squad of researcher identify theoldest fossilized photosynthetic structures yet , in 1.75 - billion - year - erstwhile careen in northerly Australia — the same neck of the wood where even - more - ancient stromatolites form .
In July , Perseverancefound “ leopard spots”on Mars in bands of hematite and calcium sulphate , which NASA scientists believe could indicate that the rock and roll was once clay containing organic compounds .
Now , Perseverance has investigated another compelling target : the red rock with green spots . scarcely a smoke - gunman for exotic aliveness , the stone nevertheless provide a window into Mars’ironicironyiron - richpast .
The rock ’s redness is probable due to oxidize branding iron , but the Perseverance team want to take a close expression . The rover thin a 2 - inch - wide ( 5 - centimetre - wide ) circular chunk of the rock ’s control surface using an abrading shaft to see the stone underneath , which has not been eat at or otherwise changed by the windswept experimental condition on the Martian surface .
The green spots in the rock ‘n’ roll are “ comparatively common , ” according to theNASA release . They happen when water permeates the iron - rich deposit before it turns into rock and roll , oxidizing the metallic element and sour it green . On Earth , microbes can catalyze that response , though it can also happen due to disintegrate organic subject or interaction between sulfur and iron . Whatever the effort , studying the rock would yield data about Mars ’ reeking yesteryear , possible life on the satellite , or how the planet evolved .
Given the possibilities , the green - splotch deposit warranted further probe . But there was n’t enough space around the rock-and-roll sampling for Perseverance to unroll its musical instrument , so the rock-and-roll ’s composition could n’t be studied in greater detail .
Hopefully there are more tilt bearing similar characteristic in Perseverance ’s close - future . The rover is currently seduce its way up the rim of Jezero Crater , go up out of its Martian rocker towards some high-flown understanding of our desiccated next - room access neighbour .
alien lifeExploration of MarsIronMars roversPerseverance
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