NASA was expected to go beyond its initial plans for Mars when it saw water indications from a drone that roamed across the planet and could be inhabited by humans. NASA says the rounded boulders seen here were probably carried into Jezero Crater by powerful flood waters billions of years ago.
They did so during one of three key stages in the formation of the lake and river system that existed in Jezero ages ago.” This led to craters, floods and channels on Mars following flooding in IsidisPlanitia plain approximately 3.5 billion years back which are now empty. The study revealed that there were many more sudden floods than anyone had ever imagined happening in this place.
Also, Mars’ Jezero area had a 22-mile-long lake according to Mashable. Furthermore, there were also arguments that had been raised concerning the existence of life on Mars with the warm regions having water and wet soil.
Now, NASA plans to return to Mars with new instruments to try and get samples of the area for examination and determine whether it will ever have water bodies on its surface once more.
#NASA has #discovered evidence of water on #Mars possibly inhabited by humans through a drone survey of #Jezero Crater, a 22-mile lake washed into the area billions of years ago. pic.twitter.com/aNIMpKO9BF
— Ivntv (@x_ivntv) December 25, 2023
The statement reads in part: “This would involve future NASA missions (with possible participation by the European Space Agency) landing spacecraft on Mars which would seal up rock samples like these and bring them back to Earth where they could be examined further.”
Jezero Crater is a place on Mars where Perseverance rover is currently making investigations, which happened to be filled with water billions of years ago. The research has enabled scientists to map out the formation of the crater in three major stages after water invaded from outside the rim.
These include deposition of fine-grained sand and mud, formation and growth of the lake in the crater and finally boulders being transported by high-energy rivers. The objective behind the mission is to characterize Mars’ geology, past climate, pave way for human exploration effort and become first ever to collect Martian rock and regolith.
Mars 2020 Perseverance mission belongs to NASA’s Moon to Mars approach that includes Artemis missions to the Moon. JPL made it and Caltech manages its operations as well as built this rover.
Recent discoveries have revived interest in the exploration of Mars, with some of them including evidence of former water. These findings, like layering of sedimentary rock and polar ice caps having water ice, furnish more definite evidence for the likelihood that there was life on this planet.
This is because if there was water in the past, then it is highly probable that microbial life once existed on Mars prompting thoughts about other life forms even more complex than this.
The new Mars discoveries are bolstering the enthusiasm to explore and study the planet further with forthcoming missions designed to gather more detailed information and search for any signs of life. –(IVNTV)