NASA Perseverance Mars Rover to dig deep into the Enchanted Lake in search for signs of Life
NASA Mars Perseverance Rover has been collecting rock samples, analyzing the terrain, and hunting for evidence of previous microbial life on Mars since its landing in February 2021. Moving around the Jezero crater, it has found many interesting sights and shared them with scientists on Earth, but so far there have been no confirmed signs of life. However, that might be changing now as the rover is headed towards a site called Enchanted Lake. The location has an outcrop of sedimentary rocks and scientists believe that it might contain signs of ancient life.
Perseverance is not headed to this site for the first time. It was there in April 2022, but due to exploration duties, it wasn't able to collect samples from here. But after sampling and exploring the ‘Wildcat Ridge', it is all set to return to the Enchanted Lake. The location is considered an important site to find signs of life on Mars because the outcrop here contains a thin layer of martian rocks which formed as mud, silt and sand.
The official Twitter account of the Perseverance Mars Rover posted about this update saying, “Been checking on some small debris in my drill system. I'm designed for a dirty environment, but it doesn't hurt to be careful. Thankfully it looks like I'll be rolling on soon, headed for this spot my team calls Enchanted Lake”.
According to a report by Space.com, the rover will head to Enchanted Lake in September. Before that, it will check its sampling system to ensure that it is clear of any debris. While the Enchanted Location does offer a possibility of finding life on Mars, it will not be before early 2030s that NASA will get to examine the samples. That is when the NASA-ESA Mars sample return campaign is scheduled for which will deliver the
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