Almost everyone wonders if there is life on Mars. Mars, which is often called the red planet, is still full of mystery despite the space studies carried out, the exploratory vehicles sent and all the researches. So is there really life on Mars? Although the answer to this question has not been definitively revealed yet, the latest research by scientists has been very exciting.
ROCK SAMPLES MAY HELP UNDERSTAND LIFE ON MARS
According to the news of Euronews Turkish, scientists said that the rock samples collected from Mars by NASA’s Perseverance rover will help to understand whether there is life on Mars.
In an article published Thursday in the science journal Science, researchers claimed that rock fragments collected by Perseverance already enable surprising discoveries before they even reach Earth.
The rocks were collected from the Jezero Crater designated by NASA. This crater is thought to contain a river delta and lake and may provide important information about the water history of the red planet.
LAKE ON MARS: A CHRONOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF ROCKS…
One of the authors of the article, University of California Earth and Space Sciences Professor Davis Shuster, stated that by examining the rocks chronologically, it is possible to understand when the lake on Mars existed. He said the rocks would also provide insight into when environmental conditions favored life on Mars.
Rocks collected by Perseverance were collected from four areas on the crater surface, two of which were named the Seitah site and the other two the Maaz field.
All of the collected samples were reported to be igneous cumulate rocks formed by the cooling of molten magma. It is stated that such rocks are ideal sources in terms of geological chronology when they were brought to the world. It is stated that the rocks also bear the traces of the change they have undergone by the water.
SAMPLES ARE NOT COMING SOON! HERE IS THE DATE GIVEN
Rock samples will be brought in 2033, which is not very close. Stating that the discoveries are of great importance in terms of sampling, Prof. “The fact that we have evidence of igneous rocks that have been altered by water is a discovery that makes people extremely excited about understanding the environmental conditions that could support life on Mars,” Shuster said. he said.
Geochemist Kenneth Farley, one of the authors of the paper and working on the Perseverance mission, said the rocks showed that the lake existed after igneous rocks formed.
Mars Explorer PERSEVERANCE
The Mars explorer spacecraft Perseverance, built at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, landed on Mars on February 18, about 7 months after launching on July 30, 2020.
The vehicle, built as part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, made its longest distance walk on Mars in February of this year, at 245.76 meters.