April 08, 2024
Mysterious Mars Rock May Be From Ancient Beach, NASA Says
Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The Perseverance rover sampled "Comet Geyser" from a fascinating rock named "Bunsen Peak." The surf is not up on Mars these days, but the dry planet once had a lot more water on its surface. NASA’s Perseverance rover is investigating the Jezero Crater and it picked up a prize: a rock sample from what may be an ancient beach. It’s an exciting find for scientists sleuthing out the history of water—and potential evidence of long-ago microbial life—on Mars. The rover drilled out a piece of the intriguing rock on March 11. The rock is called Bunsen Peak and the pencil-sized piece the rover cored out is called Comet Geyser. Both are named after natural features found in Wyoming. "To put it simply, this is the kind of rock we had hoped to find when we decided to investigate Jezero Crater," said Perseverance project scientist Ken Farley in a NASA statement on April 3. Comet Geyser is the 24th sample collected by Percy on Mars. The samples are sealed into small tubes. Perseverance is a rolling laboratory. The rover analyzed the rock with its onboard instruments and found it was likely “awash in water for an extended period of time in the distant past.” Jezero Crater was once home to a massive lake, which makes it a prime spot for robotic exploration. Water is associated with life as we know it on Earth, so NASA is interested in studying once-watery areas on Mars. NASA released a short video discussing the find. “It’s still a little bit of a mystery what this rock is,” said geologist Samantha Gwzid . “There are interesting textures that could be consistent with either an igneous rock or a sedimentary rock.” Igneous rocks have volcanic origins while sedimentary rocks are often connected to water processes. Scientists are working to solve this puzzle about Bunsen Peak. Google’s Surprise Update Just Made Android More Like iPhone WWE WrestleMania 40 Results Winners And Grades From Night 2 Cena Undertaker And Everything That Happened After Cody Beat Roman At WrestleMania 40 The Comet Geyser rock sample is about the size of a pencil. Perseverance places it samples into ... [+] tubes and then seals them for safekeeping. So far, the data suggests the rock may have formed along a lakeshore. “Nearly all the minerals in the rock we just sampled were made in water; on Earth, water-deposited minerals are often good at trapping and preserving ancient organic material and biosignatures,” said Farley. The rover’s investigation shows Bunsen Peak is made up of carbonate grains cemented by silica. The rock’s composition, structure and age make it a prime candidate for harboring evidence of microbial life from deep in the planet’s watery past. NASA has big plans for Perseverance’s rock collection through its proposed Mars Sample Return mission. The idea is to send a spacecraft to Mars, pick up some of the sample tubes and then bring them back to Earth for closer study. MSR has been plagued by budget issues , but the rover is still proceeding with gathering samples from different spots around the crater. Comet Geyser could be a crown jewel in that collection. Gallery: Mars Gets Wild: Behold NASA Perseverance Rover’s Strangest Sights NASA’s Mars explorers continue to send back a wealth of new data about the red planet. They’re teasing out the planet’s history of water and engaging in one of the space agency’s prime quests: the search for life, current or past, beyond Earth. Comet Geyser is an argument in support of the costly and challenging MSR mission. Percy’s instruments can only take the science so far. Scientists hope to study the sample in person on Earth. Until then, Comet Geyser and its parent rock Bunsen Peak may remain an enigma. Editorial Standards Print Reprints & Permissions
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