Jezero Crater Rocks Show Evidence Of Sustained Water Interaction

NASA's Perseverance rover has been rolling around the surface of Mars for many months conducting investigations on various rock samples. Scientists believe in the distant past, Mars had an abundance of water, and at the time, Jezero Crater was a lake fed by an ancient river. Mission scientists have been analyzing rocks on the crater floor, which have been interpreted for now as igneous rocks, presumably the result of volcanic lava flow.

Scientists Stack Morgan says the fact that the rocks are volcanic in nature is appealing to scientists because igneous rocks are good for getting accurate age dates. Currently, researchers believe the lake system and rivers that drained into the crater were active 3.8 to 3.6 billion years ago. Some rock samples gathered during this mission will eventually be returned to Earth for further study.

Once the rocks are returned to Earth, the ability to directly date the rocks will give scientists a much better understanding of when Mars could've been a habitable planet. Perseverance researchers are investigating the rocks using the abrasion tool aboard the rover. The tool was designed to scratch the top surface of the rock, revealing the texture of the rock.

Researchers have found the rocks on the crater floor are composed of igneous minerals with coarse grains. They have also discovered a variety of salts in the rock. Investigations have suggested the rocks were extensively weathered by water, and water is believed to have altered the crater's floor, meaning they were subjected to water for a significant duration of time.

NASA has encountered some difficulties in sampling the rocks using its drilling system. The first rock it attempted to sample was too soft, creating a powder rather than a solid sample core that could be tested. The next rock NASA attempted to sample produced two core samples. NASA hopes to be able to return the samples to Earth in the early 2030s.