NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover successfully collected its first sample from the Jezero Crater’s delta for the mission’s newest science campaign. When these samples are returned to Earth, scientists will study them for signs of ancient microbial life and to also better understand the water cycle that shaped the surface as well as interior of the Red Planet.
The sample was cored from a rock called “Berea,” which the team believes formed from rock deposits that were carried downstream by an ancient river to this location. This means that the material might have flowed from an area well beyond the confines of Jezero Crater. So, by analyzing the carbonate in the Berea sample, scientists could help fill in the gaps on how Mars’ climate worked back when this area was covered with liquid water.
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The second reason is that the rock is rich in carbonate. Carbonate rocks on Earth can be good at preserving fossilized lifeforms. If biosignatures were present in this part of Jezero Crater, it could be a rock like this one that could very well hold their secrets,” said Katie Stack Morgan, deputy project scientist for Perseverance at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
