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Perseverance Takes A Second Look At Some Historical Rocks

February 27, 2025
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Perseverance Takes A Second Look At Some Historical Rocks
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A planet’s historical past is instructed in its historic rock. Earth’s oldest rocks are within the Canadian Defend, Australia’s Jack Hill, the Greenstone Belts in Greenland, and a handful of different places. These rocks maintain highly effective clues to our planet’s historical past. On Mars, the identical holds true.

That’s why NASA’s Perseverance rover is revisiting a few of them.

Perseverance is exploring Jezero Crater, an historic paleolake. Its thick layer of sediments could include proof of historic life on Mars. Each crater has a rim, and Perseverance’s present marketing campaign includes finding out the rim. The crater rim is completely different than the sediments. It’s made from historic rock uplifted and uncovered on the floor by the traditional influence that created Jezero.

On Earth, geologists usually research rock that has made itself simple to look at by developing from the deeper crust and presenting itself. The identical factor occurs on Mars, although impacts do the lifting, not plate tectonics. Perseverance is finding out the rocks on the crater rim in its present Crater Rim Marketing campaign. The situation it’s exploring is an uncovered outcrop named Tablelands.

This image shows Perseverance's landing ellipse (green circle) and the different regions in the Jezero Crater. The rover is currently exploring the crater rim, shown in purple. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/USGS/University of Arizona
This picture reveals Perseverance’s touchdown ellipse (inexperienced circle) and the completely different areas within the Jezero Crater. The rover is at the moment exploring the crater rim, proven in purple. Picture Credit score: NASA/JPL-Caltech/USGS/College of Arizona

One kind of rock that may educate us rather a lot about Mars’ historic historical past is serpentine. It’s widespread on Earth and Mars and varieties within the presence of water. Its presence on Mars is a few of our strongest proof that the planet was as soon as moist.

Perseverance sampled Silver Mountain, a rock within the Tablelands. The rover used its abrasion instrument on its robotic arm to create a contemporary floor it might analyze. That evaluation confirmed Silver Mountain is wealthy in pyroxene, a sort of silicate present in virtually each igneous and metamorphic rock. The rover additionally collected a core.

After that, it visited a rock named Serpentine Lake that confirmed telltale indicators of serpentine. Perseverance used its abrasion instrument to scrub the rock for an in depth investigation. Serpentine Lake has an intriguing texture, described in a press launch as “cookies and cream.” It’s additionally excessive in serpentine and different minerals that type within the presence of water.

Perseverance used its Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) instrument to examine the Serpentine Lake rock. The rock shows a high concentration of serpentine, indicating that it was exposed to water for a long time, a hint of Mars' potential ancient habitability. Its unusual texture also hints at complex geological processes. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Perseverance used its Scanning Liveable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemical compounds (SHERLOC) instrument to look at the Serpentine Lake rock. The rock reveals a excessive focus of serpentine, indicating that it was uncovered to water for a very long time, a touch of Mars’ potential historic habitability. Its uncommon texture additionally hints at advanced geological processes. Picture Credit score: NASA/JPL-Caltech

After that, Perseverance doubled again to revisit a rock named “Cat Arm Reservoir.”

It was the primary rock the rover studied on the canyon rim. The rover analyzed its composition and detected coarse pyroxene and feldspar crystals, indicating an igneous origin. Sadly, Perseverance’s pattern tube was empty. Typically, the rock the rover tries to pattern is weak and turns to mud. That is uncommon, nevertheless it did occur through the rover’s very first sampling attempt, and it occurred once more with Cat Arm Reservoir.

This image from NASA's Perseverance Location Tracker shows the rover's convoluted path as it explores the rim of Jezero Crater. Image Credit: NASA/JPL
This picture from NASA’s Perseverance Location Tracker reveals the rover’s convoluted path because it explores the rim of Jezero Crater. Picture Credit score: NASA/JPL

Perseverance travelled a small distance and tried to gather a core pattern from Cat Arm Reservoir once more. That try additionally failed. Then the rover selected a unique spot close by named “Inexperienced Gardens” and efficiently collected a core pattern. It’s subsequent to the abrasion patch on Serpentine Lake.

NASA's Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image of the area in front of it. It shows the Serpentine Lake abrasion patch on the right-hand side of the rock, with the Green Gardens sampling location on the left. The rover used its onboard Front Right Hazard Avoidance Camera A and captured the image on Feb. 16, 2025 (sol 1420, or Martian day 1,420 of the Mars 2020 mission) at the local mean solar time of 16:45:19. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover acquired this picture of the realm in entrance of it. It reveals the Serpentine Lake abrasion patch on the right-hand facet of the rock, with the Inexperienced Gardens sampling location on the left. The rover used its onboard Entrance Proper Hazard Avoidance Digital camera A and captured the picture on Feb. 16, 2025 (sol 1420, or Martian day 1,420 of the Mars 2020 mission) on the native imply photo voltaic time of 16:45:19. Picture Credit score: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Just like the Serpentine Lake rock, Inexperienced Backyard can also be inexperienced, which is a attribute of the mineral serpentine. Serpentine varieties within the presence of water when hydrothermal vents alter ultramafic rocks. Scientists are excited by these minerals as a result of their construction and composition can reveal the historical past of water on Mars. On Earth, serpentine rock additionally hosts microbial life, so the identical could have been true on Mars. Sadly, it’s not clear how a lot evidence of this life can be preserved.

Perseverance’s “Inexperienced Backyard” core pattern was collected on February seventeenth. Picture Credit score: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Perseverance will spend some extra time exploring the Tablelands outcrop. It could re-examine the Serpentine Lake abrasion patch and analyze the particles from the Inexperienced Gardens drilling and coring. This might take a few weeks.

Subsequent on its agenda is “Broom Level,” additional down the crater rim. Broom Level accommodates a spectacular formation of layered rock, which can also be intriguing to scientists.

Mars’ historic historical past is instructed in its historic rocks, nevertheless it’s inconceivable to know upfront which rock holds which clues and the way every thing will fall into place.

We don’t know what Perseverance will uncover about Broom Level. However the rock will inform us one thing. It at all times does.

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