The rover
Perseverance
He identified an exceptional rock sample on Mars: it could contain clues to the presence, in the past, of life forms on the red planet.
This time the rover Perseverance Della Nasa collected a truly extraordinary geological champion during his exploration on Mars. In fact, he identified a rock, renamed “leopard spot” because of its particular dark veins, which presents a chemical composition reminiscent of that of the earth’s rocks modeled by the action of particular microorganisms.
Cautious optimism. The announcement, which took place during the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, turned on the spotlight on the possibility that the red planet hosted life forms in the distant past. However, scientists maintain cautious optimism, underlining that these formations could be the result of non -biological chemical and physical processes, currently not entirely understood.
“This Discovery represents one of the strongest signals ever detected of possible Martian life“Said Jim Green, former head of the NASA head and creator of the evaluation scale of the tests of extraterrestrial life. “However, it is essential to conduct further analyzes to confirm this hypothesis”.
The scale of life. Currently, the discovery is placed At level 1 of the Green scalewhich ranges from 1 (clue) to 7 (unequivocal confirmation). To advance in the scale, scientists need to perform more in -depth analyzes, possible only by reporting the rock on Earth. A sample is already kept inside the rover Perseverancewaiting for a future recovery mission.
Chemical reactions related to life. The rock was found in the crater Jezero, a Ancient Martian lake that, billions of years ago, he could have offered favorable conditions to the development of life. The “leopard stains” and the smaller formations, nicknamed “poppy seeds”, present aHigh concentration of iron and phosphoruswhile the spots centers are rich in iron and sulfur.
“This chemical composition suggests that the spots were formed following the reaction of organic compounds with iron and sulphate minerals,” explained Joel Hurowitz, Geochimic of the Stony Brook University. “On earth, these reactions are triggered by microorganisms.” Although similar reactions can also take place in the absence of life, for example following a significant heating of the rock, Hurowitz and his colleagues believe that this hypothesis is less likely. The fine grain of the rock suggests in fact, that it has not undergone recrystallization processes due to heat.
In addition, modeling studies conducted by Michael Tice, Texas A&M University geobiologist, indicate that The formation of spots would be compatible with the action of living organisms, in low temperature conditionsjust like the one that could exist 3 or 4 billion years ago on Mars.
Will the samples return to the ground? NASA is now under pressure for accelerate the recovery plans of the samples of Perseverance. The mission is considered crucial to reveal the secrets of the rock and confirm or deny the hypothesis of life spent on Mars. Unfortunately a few months after the start of the mission that should have brought the champions to the ground, it was considered too onerous as it would cost about 11 billion dollars. At this point NASA has given some private companies of Check if there is a way to reduce costs.
