‘Potentially habitable environment’, NASA Mars rover rocks reveal

INA - SOURCES

NASA Perseverance rover's first rock core samples from this now-dry lakebed are giving scientists plenty of reason to get excited. 

"It looks like our first rocks reveal a potentially habitable sustained environment," Perseverance project scientist Ken Farley of Caltech said in a NASA statement on Friday. 

"It's a big deal that the water was there a long time." Researchers have been investigating just how long water had lingered on the lakebed. If groundwater was present for long stretches, it could have been conducive to microbial life.

After its first sample collection attempt crumbled, Perseverance triumphed by successfully drilling and stashing its first core sample from a different rock nicknamed "Rochette." It then followed that up with a second sample. Analysis shows Rochette appears to be volcanic in origin.

NASA has spotted other potentially habitable ancient regions on Mars, but the prospect of bringing a piece of one of these back to Earth is one of the major advancements of the Perseverance mission.  

The samples could end up on Earth as soon as the early 2030s. NASA is working on an ambitious sample-return mission. A closer study under lab conditions on our planet could give scientists tons of information about the crater's history.