The day is ultimately here . NASA’sPerseverance Mars roveris about to come out study its elementary positioning : the delta of an ancient river that jillion of years ago flowed intoJezero Crater . Given how crucial water is to life-time on Earth , water - carved lineament on Mars are experience as a choice location for the hunting for ancient life on the Red Planet .
The rover will achieve its first location , called Devils Tanyard , within the next twain of sol . A " colloidal suspension " is a solar day on Mars and is about 40 proceedings long than a day on Earth . The stop is on the way to the Hawksbill gap within the delta front .
After Devils Tanyard , the team expects to complete four other occlusive until they reach Rocky Top , another location of interest . This trek will take the rover by different rock layer corresponding to different periods of formation of these ancient rocky feature .
“ After completing this first one-half of our walkabout , we plan on descend tosampleat three of our favorite sites . With these three sample pairs , the squad desire to contribute to ourMartian collectablesa solidifying of fine - grain clay - bearing mudstones that are good prospect for preserving organics and potential ancient bug , as well as coarser granulate sandstone to enquire material wash down from beyond Jezero and to constrain the timing of past lake activity , ” Brad Garczynski , scholar collaborator of the Perseverance team at Purdue University , wrote in a NASAblog post .
Jezero Crater is about 45 kilometers ( 28 nautical mile ) across and is famous for the fan - shaped delta that Perseverance is about to explore . The realm is fat in clays take shape when piss was still flowing and the whole crater has been filled with deposit .
“ With each thrust and sample , the team continues to pick up more about this once watery volcanic crater and man together the story written in the Martian rocks , ” Garczynski explain .
Perseverance is equipped with many official document to consider materials on Mars but the roamer is also collect samples , which are expected to be vaporize to Earth sometime in the next 10 , where they can be studied in greater item .
The sample return delegation will be a joint project between NASA and the European Space Agency . A few samples have already beencollected by Perseveranceand they will be go along safe and sealed until they can be launched from the Martian airfoil all the path back to Earth .
