NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has collected and stored samples of rocks made up of minerals and organic compounds that, on Earth, would likely preserve traces of past microbial life, researchers said Thursday.
has collected and stored samples of rocks made up of minerals and organic compounds that, on Earth, would likely preserve traces of past microbial life, researchers said Thursday.
"If these conditions existed, I think, pretty much anywhere on Earth at any point in time over the last ... three and a half billion years, I think it's safe to say, or at least assume, that biology would have done its thing and left its mark in these rocks for us to observe. Perseverance is equipped with a suite of sophisticated instruments designed to study the ancient lakebed deposits, on the lookout for traces of past microbial life that might have filtered down to be preserved in what are now layers of sedimentary rock.
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