Rolling up an ancient river delta in Jezero Crater, the rover starts crucial rock sampling.
, a type that forms as molten materials cool. That was a scientific jackpot because scientists can date igneous rocks on the basis of the radioactive decay of their chemical elements. But many researchers have been keen for Perseverance to get to the delta, whose fine-grained sediments have the best chance of harbouring evidence of Martian life.
A delta formed in Jezero Crater billions of years ago, when an ancient river flowed into the formation and deposited sediment . Sediment tends to contain organic matter, making it a good place to look for signs of ancient life.Mission engineers then drove Perseverance away from this region, named Enchanted Lake, and towards another area known as Hawksbill Gap, where it is currently working.
Like a child assembling a set of gemstones for their prized collection, mission scientists are deliberating over which rocks the rover should sample to amass the most geologically diverse cache. Perseverance carries 43 tubes for samples, each a little thicker than a pencil. NASA and ESA are planning to bring around 30 filled tubes back to Earth.Mission scientists are already considering where to set down the first set of samples for a future spacecraft to retrieve.
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