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Nasa may have collected the first evidence of life on Mars… but it will take us 10 years to find out.
ast week, Nasa’s Perseverance Rover drilled down into a rocky outcrop called Berea, which probably formed from deposits carried downstream by an ancient river that flowed well beyond the Jezero crater that the Rover has been exploring.
The rock is sedimentary and composed of carbonate minerals, which on Earth often contain fossils.
Carbonate rocks on Earth can be good at preserving fossilised life forms
Nasa is planning to bring the samples back to Earth, alongside dozens of others that it is collecting from the Jezero crater – the site of an ancient Martian lake.
But the samples are not due back until 2033, meaning scientists will have to wait to find out whether the precious cores contain proof that life once existed on the planet.
Katie Stack Morgan, deputy project scientist for Perseverance at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, said Berea rock is one of the best hopes of finding life.
“The rock is rich in carbonate,” she said. “Carbonate rocks on Earth can be good at preserving fossilised life forms.
An artist’s impression of Mars. Image: Dottedhippo
“If biosignatures were present in this part of Jezero crater, it could be a rock like this one that could very well hold their secrets.”
On Earth, Berea sandstone deposits are found in the US states of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky, and often contain fossils or trace fossils, such as tiny burrows, that are hundreds of millions of years old.
Samples have never been returned from Mars, and the logistics of getting the tubes of rock home has proved tricky.
The intriguing image from Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows hills, craters and a circular fracture pattern on the surface of Mars. Photo; Via Reuters
Originally, Nasa had planned to send a second rover to collect the samples, which were to be left in depots by Perseverance.
But last year, the plan was changed so that Perseverance would now drive the samples directly to an ascent vehicle, where they will be fired into space on the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV).
Two small helicopters will be on standby to pick up the loads should Perseverance run out of power.
Bringing alien samples back to Earth is fraught with risks
After the MAV has launched it will release a basketball-sized sphere containing the samples for collection by the European Space Agency’s Earth Return Orbiter, which opens up its huge jaws to capture the metal ball.
The orbiter will then head back home, with touchdown expected in 2033.
Bringing alien samples back to Earth is fraught with risks that Martian bacteria or viruses could escape, so scientists are designing a re-entry module that can withstand crash-landing at 2,000 G-force and speeds of up to 40,000kmh in the Utah desert,
Telegraph Media Group Limited [2023]
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