Ancient lake on Mars could lead to signs of life, scientist claims

Nasa’s Perseverance rover has spent more than 1,000 days on the surface of Mars – but it’s still unearthing new details about the planet.

Most recently, it’s been shedding light on an ancient lake and river delta which could help solve fresh mysteries about the planet's past.

Crucially, it could also reveal whether life ever existed there.

The river delta in question once fed into the 28 mile-wide Jezero Crater billions of years ago, where Perseverance has been exploring since February 2021.

The rover has also picked up 23 different rock samples from across the region, which will eventually be sent back to Earth.

While this hasn’t yet happened, Perseverance has its own instrument for analysing chemical samples, known as PIXL.

Thanks to the technology, scientists already know some of the samples include silica, a mineral that helps preserve fossils and organic molecules on Earth.

Morgan Cable, deputy principal investigator of PIXL at NASA, said: “On Earth, this fine-grained silica is what you often find in a location that was once sandy.

“It’s the kind of environment where, on Earth, the remains of ancient life could be preserved and found later.”

Other samples include iron associated with phosphate, a natural source of phosphorus, an element that occurs as part of DNA and cell membranes.

And another type of mineral, carbonate, which appears in environments that were once rich in water, was also found.

Ken Farley, Perseverance project scientist, said: “We picked Jezero Crater as a landing site because orbital imagery showed a delta – clear evidence that a large lake once filled the crater.

“A lake is a potentially habitable environment, and delta rocks are a great environment for entombing signs of ancient life as fossils in the geologic record.

“After thorough exploration, we’ve pieced together the crater’s geologic history, charting its lake and river phase from beginning to end.”

However, while the area is a prime candidate for potential ancient alien life, but no signs have actually been found – yet.

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