Perseverance confirms extinct lakes on Mars

Los Angeles: The Perseverance rover on Mars confirmed the existence of ancient lake sediments over the Red Planet. The sediments were deposited by water that once filled a large basin on the Jerezo Crater, Reuters reported, citing a study report published on Friday.

The robotic rover, developed and landed on Mars by American space agency NASA, made ground penetrating radar observations to substantiate earlier orbital observations. Scientists now believe that a portion of Mars was covered with water once, and it may have hosted microbial life.

The new findings were published by research teams led by the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Oslo. The study was published in the journal Science Advances.

The Perseverance rover conducted surfaced scans for months from the mentioned crater's floor to an adjacent expanse with a river-delta-like area. The rover's RIMFAX radar instrument provided scientists a cross-sectional view of rock layers around 20 metres deep.

These rock layers gave them firm evidence that soil sediments carried by water were deposited at the Jerezo Crater. This, along with other findings, concluded that the cold, arid, lifeless Mars was once warm and wet and probably habitable.

Scientists also found traces of erasion.

Scientists wish to have a closer look at sediment samples, the rover collected, when it returns back to Earth. The sediments were believed to have been formed as far as 3 billion years ago.

Earlier in 2021, the rover had collected rock samples that were subjected to close study and found to be volcanic in nature.