Scientists have found minerals and organic compounds modified with water on the Red Planet, indicating that water may have passed through the surface of Mars billions of years ago.
Scientists, including planetary scientist Eva Schiller of MIT, used the SHERLOC instrument aboard the Mars probe Perseverance to test the chemistry of rocks from Jezero Crater, the site of an ancient lake and river bed.
The team published their findings in three papers in the journals Science and Science Advances on Wednesday.
Since the Perseverance spacecraft touched down on Mars’ Jezero Valley in February 2021, scientists have been analyzing data collected by the spacecraft to look for signs of water and organic matter that indicate the presence of ancient life on Mars.
The area around Jezero Crater was of particular interest to scientists because they suspected it might be a river basin.
“On Earth, this kind of place is a place where life thrives,” said astrophysicist Amy Williams, one of the “Perseverance” planners from the University of Florida in the US.
“The purpose of the investigation of the Jezero River and valley is to investigate the places where people lived in the past, and to look for stones that may have evidence of past lives,” explained Dr. Williams.
In the new study, researchers found carbonates mixed with olive grains in the oldest rocks at the bottom of the crater.
Scientists said that these results indicate the possibility of water passing through these rocks. “The water reactions formed carbonates in rocks rich in olivine,” they wrote in the paper.
Scientists have also found phosphates – an essential element for life – in these rocks.
And in the basalt rocks of the “Maz” formation (which means Mars in the Navajo language, one of the American tribes), which is part of the Jezero Valley, scientists also found evidence of a mineral called perchlorate, which is incorrectly called. A molecule composed of one chlorine atom and four oxygen atoms.
Scientists think that perchlorates may have formed when Mars had liquid water. The scientists explained: “Perchlorates decompose easily, so it is possible that these rocks were formed when the rocks were last exposed to liquid water.”
Although research shows that these fish are not very hospitable to life, water may be beneficial for them.
“This type of oxygen is not good enough to maintain signs of life,” the team said. So I think it’s always possible, but it’s probably not the first place you’re looking to survive.” .
These studies might shed some light on the presence of ring-shaped organics, but they were unable to identify the chemicals involved.
NASA also previously emphasized that the presence of organic matter does not mean that life existed on Mars in the past, as both natural and unnatural processes might be responsible for the formation of these molecules.
When rock samples collected by Endurance are returned to Earth on a future mission, they can be carefully analyzed using high-powered optical instruments to bring more life to the Red Planet’s history.
