Persevering Mars rover finds organic matter in Jezero crater again – IT Pro – News

The Mars Persevere rover collected a sample containing organic molecules from a river delta that formed 3.5 billion years ago in Jezero crater on Mars. This is not conclusive evidence that life ever exists, but it is a possible indication.

NASA is talking About the “curiosity of organic compounds” it clay stone Have been found. It is a stone one meter wide, called Wildcar Ridge. On July 20, Perseverance shaved off a piece of the surface so that the SHERLOC (Survey of Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals) instrument could perform the analyses. These analyzes show that the samples contain a class of organic molecules that are spatially related to those of the sulfate minerals. According to NASA, these minerals can be found in sedimentary rock layers and can provide important data about the aquatic environments in which they formed.

This is not the first time that evidence of organic matter has been found on the Red Planet. Ancestor perseverance, curiosity Discover This is already in 2013 and perseverance already Organic materials were also found in Jezero crater. What distinguishes the current and recent discovery is that SHERLOC has found the most abundant organic compounds to date. In addition, this latest discovery was made in an area where sediments and salts were deposited in a lake in the distant past under conditions that may have allowed life to exist.

The project world Van Perseverance, Ken Farley explains: “In the distant past, the sand, slime and salts that make up the Wildcat Ridge beast were deposited in conditions where life would have thrived. The fact that organic matter has been found in such sedimentary rocks, famous for sustaining life’s fossils Ancient here on Earth, is important.”

However, he acknowledges that the final conclusions can only be drawn once this monster is brought to Earth along with all the other collected monsters. To that end, an ESA mission must land on Mars in 2028 to capture samples collected by Perseverance and return them to Earth. Monsters must reach Earth in 2033. This task was modified not too long ago; The European Geicher will no longer retrieve the samples; This task now falls to perseverance or two spare helicopters. These helicopters are based on the Ingenuity, the helicopter that helps persevere on Mars and has already made about 30 flights.