Sept. 15 (UPI) -- NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has collected four rock samples since July from the planet's surface, in an area the agency considers a top prospect for finding signs of ancient microbial life, the agency said Thursday.
The samples come from the rim of an ancient river delta in Red Planet's Jezero Crater.
"We picked the Jezero Crater for Perseverance to explore because we thought it had the best chance of providing scientifically excellent samples -- and now we know we sent the rover to the right location," NASA associate administrator for science in Washington Thomas Zurbuchen said in a statement.
The rover and its sidekick helicopter Ingenuity first landed in the crater on Feb. 18, 2021.
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The four most recent samples of rocks made up of minerals and organic compounds bring the total number collected over the length of the mission to 12. Perseverance drilled its first rock sample in September 2021.
Researchers will eventually examine samples for evidence of microorganisms but will have to wait for some time to do so. The Mars Sample Return campaign being run by NASA and the European Space Agency will eventually land a spacecraft on the planet, but it won't return to Earth until 2033.
Perseverance has detected organics in the Jezero Crater before. But the latest detection was made in an area where sediment and salts were once deposited into a lake under conditions in which life could potentially have existed.
"In the distant past, the sand, mud, and salts that now make up the Wildcat Ridge sample were deposited under conditions where life could potentially have thrived," Perseverance project scientist Ken Farley said in a statement.
"The fact the organic matter was found in such a sedimentary rock -- known for preserving fossils of ancient life here on Earth -- is important. However, as capable as our instruments aboard Perseverance are, further conclusions regarding what is contained in the Wildcat Ridge sample will have to wait until it's returned to Earth for in-depth study as part of the agency's Mars Sample Return campaign."
