Searching for Signs of Life on Mars... US Rover Prepares to Collect First Rock Sample

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suhwan] NASA's rover 'Perseverance,' which is exploring traces of life on the ancient lakebed of Mars, is preparing to collect the first rock samples to be brought back to Earth for detailed analysis.

On the 21st (local time), NASA announced that Perseverance will select scientifically interesting spots on the floor of the 'Jezero Crater,' believed to be an ancient delta, and collect rock samples within the next two weeks.

These samples will later be brought back to Earth by another probe to be launched for detailed analysis.

Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's Associate Administrator for Science Missions, said, "When Neil Armstrong collected the first samples from the Sea of Tranquility 52 years ago, it marked the beginning of rewriting what humanity knows about the Moon," adding, "We greatly expect that the first samples Perseverance collects from Jezero Crater, as well as subsequent samples, will play the same role."

Perseverance has currently moved about 1 km south from its landing site, 'Octavia E. Butler.' Over the coming months, it will explore approximately 4 square kilometers of the Jezero Crater floor.

NASA plans to focus on the ancient lake in Jezero Crater, where water repeatedly filled and dried up. Since water once existed there, it is presumed to have had conditions necessary for life.

The first sample collection is planned at the 'Cratered Floor Fractured Rough (CF-Fr),' where the oldest exposed bedrock layers of the crater floor are found.

Ken Farley, Mars 2020 Project Scientist overseeing Perseverance, explained, "We are currently looking back at the environment from billions of years ago."

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

Once Perseverance identifies a rock to sample, it will first conduct on-site analysis using scientific instruments mounted on the rover.

It will operate a 2-meter robotic arm to grind the rock surface with an abrasion tool to expose unweathered parts, then perform primary analysis using instruments mounted on the rotating turret at the arm's end, such as 'SHERLOC' (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals).

The 'SuperCam' mounted on the rover's mast fires lasers at the rock and analyzes the gases released.

Then, the rover drills a hole in the rock and collects a chalk-sized sample, sealing and storing it in a special container. While Armstrong took only 3 minutes and 35 seconds to collect the first lunar sample, Perseverance will take about 11 days to decide the sampling site, collect, and store the sample while communicating with scientists on Earth.

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

Perseverance will collect a total of 43 samples during its Mars exploration, which will be retrieved by a probe jointly launched by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) and brought back to Earth around 2031. Only then will it be possible to definitively determine whether ancient life existed on Mars billions of years ago.

Ken Farley, a geochemistry professor at Caltech, said that the small cliffs with layered rock strata in Jezero Crater may have been formed by accumulated lake mud, stating, "It is a very suitable place to look for traces of life," but it may take several months for Perseverance to reach such locations.

He added, "The rocks in this area (CF-Fr) are not the optimal place to find an organic time capsule, but since it has existed continuously since Jezero Crater was formed, it is believed to be a very valuable place that fills gaps in geological understanding," emphasizing, "This is an absolutely essential part to understand whether life existed on Mars."

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

Launched to search for traces of ancient life that may have lived on Mars billions of years ago, Perseverance landed in Jezero Crater near the Martian equator on February 18. After completing exploration preparations and test flights of the Mars helicopter 'Ingenuity,' it began its first scientific exploration mission on June 1.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.