The race of perseverance NASA reported finding organic rock samples from the delta of an ancient river in Mars. The champions have now been saved for the next mission.
“The rock we are studying in this delta region has concentrations of organic material that we have never seen before on this mission,” said Ken Farley, a scientist with the Perseverance project. Science notice.
Farley said organic molecules are part of life. Consequently, the discovery of these organic rocks is of interest to scientists “that we have rocks deposited in a habitable environment in a lake that carries organic material”,
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Four samples have been collected from the delta so far. Scientists believe that the rocks were once the bottom of a lake.
The lake itself is located in the Jezero Crater (Jezero Crater), a 45 meter wide crater. The delta is thought to have formed 3.5 billion years ago in an area thought to be the convergence of rivers on Mars and lakes.
In total, there are 12 samples that Perseverance has collected. Currently, the spacecraft is studying sedimentary rocks, which are formed when particles of different sizes are present in a water-filled environment.
In his first operation, Perseverance explored the bottom of the Jezero crater, which was the site of his landing. There, the probe found igneous rock, which forms underground passages from magma or volcanic activity on the surface.
Now in its second operation, the spacecraft is studying the delta region, where it has found organic material. The discovery of the material was carried out in areas of sediment and salt stored in the lake in conditions that allow the existence of life.
Farley said the Perseverance probe, for example, found sandstone carrying rock fragments that had been made far from the Jezero crater. Experts have called the sandstone Wildcat Ridge, which is one meter long.
Presumably, Wildcat Ridge formed billions of years ago when mud and sand were present in evaporating saltwater lakes. Perseverance analyzed Wildcat Ridge using a tool called Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals (SHERLOC).
To collect CNN, SHERLOC works as a black light to reveal the chemical, mineral and organic content of the rocks. The results of the analysis revealed that organic minerals appeared to be stable molecules of carbon and hydrogen bound to sulfates.
Sulfated minerals are often found folded between sedimentary rock layers and store information about the aqueous environment that formed them. On Mars, organic molecules are interesting because they represent elements of life such as carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, as well as nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur.
But not all organic molecules need life to form because some of them can be produced by chemical processes. However, the discovery of this organic material remains quite important.
“The fact that organic material is found in such sedimentary rocks is important. However, due to the limitations of Perseverance’s instruments, further conclusions about what is contained in Wildcat Ridge still have to wait for the sample to return to Earth for more study. in-depth, “said Sunanda Sharma. , SHERLOC scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, United States.
(lesimo / lesimo)
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