By Stacy Liberatore For Dailymail.com22:15 29 Jan 2024, updated 22:15 29 Jan 2024NASA’s ongoing search for life on Mars has uncovered evidence of an ancient lake that could have supported microbial life. The Perseverance rover has been exploring the Jezero Crater, where it found sediments left behind by water, confirming suspicions that the area was once filled with water three billion years ago. Images captured by the car-sized rover provided scientists with a cross-sectional view of rock layers 65 feet beneath the surface. This discovery supported previous studies that suggested Mars was once warm, wet, and potentially habitable. The selection of Jezero Crater for the rover’s mission was based on prior indications of water-rich minerals in the area. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter also detected clays within the crater, which are typically formed in the presence of water. The recent evidence from the Perseverance rover solidified the belief that water indeed flowed in the basin. Using the rover’s instrument that fires radar waves below the Martian surface, scientists were able to detect distinct periods of sediment deposition sandwiched between periods of erosion. Further analysis revealed that the crater floor below the delta showed signs of previous erosion from water before the deposition of lake sediments. This indicates that fluctuations in the lake level allowed for the formation of a broad delta, which has since eroded back closer to the river’s mouth. The discoveries were made as the Perseverance rover was traversing the crater floor between May 10 and December 8, 2022. The rover was en route to explore sedimentary-like features resembling river deltas found on Earth. The accident that led to damage to the Ingenuity helicopter occurred on January 18 when the craft lost contact with the commands team. When communication was reestablished, one of the craft’s blades showed damage. Ingenuity was originally designed to perform up to five experimental test flights over 30 days but ultimately exceeded expectations with 72 flights, covering more than 14 times the intended distance and logging over two hours of total flight time. Data showed that the helicopter achieved a maximum altitude of 40 feet, hovering for 4.5 seconds before beginning its descent at a velocity of 3.3 feet per second on its final flight.
