NASA rover finds major surprise on Mars — and scientists are excited

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) He used a number of eyebrow-raising words to describe his new discoveries on Mars. “Attractive,” “Intriguing,” “Persuasive” and “It’s startling.”

Space Agency Perseverance rover Recently, a six-wheeled robot discovered organic molecules (the so-called “building blocks of life”) while drilling into Martian rocks. After the robot collected samples, scientists discovered potential of Ancient Microbial Life“The rocks show chemical signatures and structures that could have been formed by life billions of years ago, when water flowed in the area explored by the rover,” NASA said. statementBut the key point is that many more studies over many years are needed to confirm this possibility.

actual, Mars Once upon a time, water gushed forth, Roaring River and Vast lakeThese watery environments may have set the stage for primitive life to evolve.

In the image below, you can see a new Martian structure that NASA scientists observed in this rock: a white spot surrounded by a black ring called the “leopard spot.”

“These spots are a big surprise,” David Flannery, an astrobiologist at Queensland University of Technology and a member of the Perseverance science team, said in a statement. “On Earth, these kinds of features in rocks are often associated with the fossil record of microorganisms living below the surface.”

That’s a very interesting connection. These spots form through a chemical reaction. EarthIt releases iron and phosphate (important nutrients) and provides energy for the microorganisms.

NASA planetary scientists are certainly excited.

“As a rock nerd/scientist and director of NASA JPL, this is exactly the kind of discovery you want to make — one that makes an amazing observation make your heart beat just a little faster,” said NASA’s Laurie Lessin. Post online.

“This is not only interesting, it’s really exciting! We need to get these samples back to Earth and analyze them in the best laboratories possible!” said Rosalie Lopez, a senior scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. I have written.

But of course, NASA decided to hold back on expectations until more details are known. Leopard spots could have been produced by non-biological processes, such as mineral deposition from past water flows. In their announcement, NASA included this helpful graph showing the Confidence Scale for Life Detection (CoLD): This detection puts NASA in first place.

Credit: NASA / Aaron Gronstal

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And, more importantly, scaling up will require detailed analysis of samples (taken from a rock formation called Cheyaba Falls) in laboratories on Earth, with far more instruments than a car-sized rover could carry. This could prove, among other things, whether non-biological factors actually formed the structures, confirm the presence of past life, or refute other hypotheses. NASA’s Mars Sample Return But the mission is in jeopardy. It will cost about $11 billion and space NASA can’t afford it. The agency is currently working on a financially viable plan for the complex task of retrieving the samples and returning them to Earth in a rocket.

Until then, these fascinating structures will likely remain largely intact.

“we have The laser destroyed the rock. “The rover literally worked day and night, taking images in X-ray and x-ray, from just about every angle imaginable,” Perseverance mission scientist Ken Farley said. “Scientifically, there’s nothing more that Perseverance can provide. To fully understand what really happened in the Martian river valley in Jezero Crater billions of years ago, we need to bring samples of Cheyaba Falls back to Earth and study them with powerful instruments in our lab.”