Produced by: Tarun Mishra Designed by: Muskan Arora
NASA's Perseverance rover delivered conclusive proof of ancient lake sediments in the Jerezo Crater on Mars, indicating the planet's historical warmth, wetness, and potential habitability.
The rover's RIMFAX radar instrument, penetrating up to 20 meters below the Martian surface, uncovered rock layers, providing a cross-sectional view akin to a geological road cut.
Researchers from UCLA and the University of Oslo published a significant study in the journal Science Advances, detailing the findings based on data collected throughout 2022 as Perseverance traversed the Jerezo Crater.
The analysed scans revealed sedimentary layers, affirming that soil deposits were transported and deposited by water in Jerezo Crater's delta, supporting long-standing theories of Mars' watery past.
The scientific community expressed excitement as the results validated the decision to concentrate geo-biological exploration efforts on the Jerezo Crater, marking a crucial step in understanding Mars' history.
Initial core samples near Perseverance's landing site in February 2021 showed volcanic rocks instead of sedimentary, but this discrepancy did not contradict the new findings. Signs of water alteration were present even in the volcanic rocks.
RIMFAX radar readings detect signs of erosion preceding and following the formation of sedimentary layers at the crater's edge, presenting a complex geological history on Mars. The study, while thrilling, sets the stage for the examination of Jerezo's sediments, believed to be around 3 billion years old, in samples collected for future return to Earth.