NASA discovers signs of a river on Mars and reignites theories of life on the planet

Recently, NASA (US Space Agency) released images of the ancient river of a river on Mars, with terrestrial characteristics. The discovery was announced by the space agency’s portal and sparked discussions in the scientific world. This is because the images provide indications of a raging, swollen river, something that has never been seen before.

The records obtained by the rover, on a mission that has been studying the planet since 2020, have made scientists rethink the existence of aquatic environments. This could also provide new study possibilities for the search for ancient microbial life on Mars.

“What’s exciting here is that we’ve entered a new phase in Jezero’s history. This is the first time we’ve seen environments like this on Mars,” said Katie Stack Morgan, deputy project scientist for Perseverance from JPL. “We think about rivers on a different scale than we’ve had before.”

Water proof

The river was part of a network of waterways that flow into Jezero Crater, an area that the probe has studied for more than two years. While searching the area, the equipment She identified the curves indicating the presence of running water, as well as the coarse sedimentary stones and grains characteristic of the river bed.

“This indicates a high-energy river carrying a lot of debris. The stronger the water flow, the easier it can move larger pieces of material,” explained Libby Ives, a NASA researcher and rover operator. .

Studies on the formation of rivers

According to information from NASA, scientists are sure that the curved layers were formed by strong flowing water. However, even with this data, studies are being done to analyze what kind of river would have formed the projections, because when viewed from the ground, the curved layers appear arranged in rows that spread across the landscape.

Despite this, the speculation researchers for a simple phenomenon. They say the formation could be the remains of river banks that have changed over time, or that they are sand bars that formed or even that they are mounds that have turned into boulders, blown by the wind and formed to the current size.

“The wind acted like a scalpel that cut off the tops of these sediments,” said Michael Lamb of Caltech, a river expert and contributor to the Persistence Science team. “We see deposits like this on Earth, but they’ve never been exposed like they are here on Mars. The Earth is covered in vegetation that hides these layers.”

life on Mars

From the news Perseverance has discovered, scientists intend to advance research that searches for signs of ancient microbial life on the Red Planet. That’s because the rover has instruments capable of describing the astronomical geology and climate of the past, enabling human exploration, as this will be the first mission to collect and store Martian rocks.

And this will not be the only one. surface study By the rover, because it is part of the Mars 2020 Perseverance mission, which also intends to explore the moon through the Artemis mission, which will transport humans back to the surface of the satellite. This, in turn, will help researchers prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.