Organic material showing the possibility of life has been found in fossils, one of the candidate sites for human migration to the planet.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced on its official channel on the 15th that a large amount of organic matter was discovered as a result of the analysis of a sample of the Wildcat Ridge rock taken from the ancient delta by the Mars Rover Perseverance .
A NASA official said, “The rocks examined in the ancient delta have the highest concentration of organic matter among the samples investigated so far.
Jesero Crater, currently being explored by Perseverance, has the remains of a delta believed to have been formed by the merging of a Martian river and lake from 3.5 billion years ago. Perseverance, which confirmed this in January last year, led to a valuable discovery after continued exploration.
The rocks deposited in the delta are believed to have formed when water was still present on Mars, when several particles were deposited. Perseverance’s first investigations found magma deep underground and igneous rocks formed by volcanic activity.
The detection of organic matter is a secondary investigation which is currently underway. As a result of an analysis of ‘Sherloc’, an ultraviolet Raman spectrometer for the detection of organic compounds by Persistence, organic molecules were identified which correlate with sulphate minerals. Of course, organic matter has been identified before on Mars, but this time it is significant as it is abundant and the discovery site is a lake where life is likely to have existed long ago .
A NASA official said, “In the delta, sandstones have been found that carry particles and fragments of rock formed from craters with media and mudstones containing organic compounds. It is possible that he did that.”
The rock, about one meter wide, is carved by persistence, Wildcat Ridge was formed billions of years ago when silt and fine sand were deposited in an evaporating salt lake. The rock suggests that sulphate and organic matter were deposited and preserved in the area as the lake evaporated.
The organic rock collected this time will be transported to Earth in the 2030s via a sample recovery mission on Mars. The Mars Sample Return Mission, in which NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are participating, consists of a lander carrying a small rocket and a spacecraft that retrieves the rocket from Mars orbit and returns it to the Earth.
Reporter Jeong Ian anglee@sputnik.kr
