The Perseverance rover sent by NASA to explore the surface of Mars has made an amazing discovery. The latest findings of the rover indicate that the bedrock it has been traveling on since landing 10 months ago is made of volcanic lava.
NASA scientists in charge of the mission said the discovery was “completely unexpected.” So far, scientists believe that the layered rocks photographed by Perseverance are sedimentary rocks.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) stated that this discovery has the potential to accurately date key events in the history of the Red Planet.
It also stated that the rocks in the Jezero Crater discovered by Perseverance interacted with water many times, adding that some rocks even contained organic molecules.
The findings were announced at a press conference at the American Geophysical Union Fall Science Conference in New Orleans.
Scientists have always wanted to know the composition of rocks found on the surface of Mars. Ken Farley, a Perseverance project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, said: “Crystals in the rock provide conclusive evidence.” To understand the composition of the rock, Perseverance collected samples using a drill bit mounted on its robotic arm. The drill bit can grind or abrade the surface of the rock to allow other instruments (such as the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Rock Chemistry (PIXL)) to map the elemental composition of the rock.
One such sample taken on November 23 showed that the rock contained unusually rich olivine crystals, which were swallowed by pyroxene crystals.
“A good geology student will tell you that such textures indicate the rocks that form when crystals grow and settle in slowly cooling magma-such as thick lava flows, lava lakes or magma chambers,” Farley said.
Since landing, the Perseverance rover has been exploring an area of 4 square kilometers at the bottom of Jezero Crater, looking for an interesting scientifically significant target to collect Martian rocks. The rover carries more than three dozen titanium tubes to collect samples. Scientists have determined that Jezero Crater is an ancient lake bed that has gradually dried up as the climate changes on this red planet. They sent perseverance to collect rocks from the crater, because the evidence of life on earth is usually preserved in the sand deposited on the bottom of the lake.
Earlier this year, the Perseverance rover landed on Jezero Crate. It carried the Ingenuity helicopter and became the first aircraft to fly on Mars with its own propulsion system. So far, this helicopter has completed 15 interviews.
Complete News Source : Hindustan Times
