Jezero Crater Archives

This animated artist’s concept depicts a scene of water breaking through the rim of Mars’ Jezero Crater, which NASA’s Perseverance rover is now exploring. Water entered the crater billions of years ago, depositing sediments that built up into a delta. -- NASA

Astrogeology, Mars, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report

Video: Water Enters Jezero Crater Billions of Years Ago (Artist’s Concept)

by Keith CowingDecember 15, 2023December 15, 2023

Since the spacecraft’s landing in February 2021, Perseverance’s exploration of the crater floor and the delta have led to scientists developing a detailed timeline for the crater’s formation. They now […]

This 360-degree mosaic from the “Airey Hill” location inside Jezero Crater was generated using 993 individual images taken by the Perseverance Mars rover’s Mastcam-Z from Nov. 3-6. The rover remained parked at Airey Hill for several weeks during solar conjunction. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs

Perseverance Deciphers The Ancient History Of A Martian Lake

by Keith CowingDecember 12, 2023December 12, 2023

Marking its 1,000th Martian day on the Red Planet, NASA’s Perseverance rover recently completed its exploration of the ancient river delta that holds evidence of a lake that filled Jezero […]

Illustrations of magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) under electron microscopes, and MTB from extreme environments on Earth and putatively ancient Mars. A The scanning electron micrograph and (B, C) transmission electron micrographs of MTB. White arrows indicate magnetosome chains, and white triangles indicate granules. D Terrestrial extremotolerant MTB and implications for ancient Mars. MTB are found to be able to resist various hostile settings, such as irradiation, hypomagnetic exposure, microgravity, metal stress, hypersalinity, acidic/hyperalkaline pH, and freezing/moderately hyperthermal temperatures. MTB emerged early in Earth’s history. Since ancient Mars was also characterized by many MTB-favorable aquatic/sediment oxic-anoxic conditions and a global magnetic field, it is proposed that Mars may have harbored MTB-like life in the past. -- ISME

Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Mars, Meteorites & Asteroids, Microbiology & Virology, Status Report

Renaissance For Magnetotactic Bacteria In Astrobiology

by Keith CowingNovember 29, 2023November 29, 2023

Capable of forming magnetofossils similar to some magnetite nanocrystals observed in the Martian meteorite ALH84001, magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) once occupied a special position in the field of astrobiology during the […]

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs

Perseverance Rover’s Autonomous Systems Enhance Astrobiology And Astrogeology On Mars

by Keith CowingNovember 12, 2023November 12, 2023

In about a third of the time it would have taken other NASA Mars rovers, Perseverance recently navigated its way through a field of boulders more than 1,700 feet wide […]

Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs

Meet The Mars Samples: Melyn (Sample 19)

by Keith CowingAugust 27, 2023August 27, 2023

Meet one of the Martian samples that has been collected and is awaiting return to Earth as part of the Mars Sample Return campaign. As of early August 2023, NASA’s […]

Astrogeology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs

New Perseverance Rover Research Provides More Signs Of Possible Organic Molecules On Mars

by Keith CowingJuly 19, 2023July 19, 2023

Little green men it isn’t — but a new study co-led by a Pitt PhD candidate shows the potential for a variety of carbon-based molecules in a crater on Mars. […]

The Mastcam-Z imager on NASA’s Perseverance rover captured a series of images on July 6 that were stitched together to show a field of boulders deposited in Jezero Crater by a fast-moving ancient river. Rover tracks across the middle of the image give a sense of scale. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Astrogeology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs

An Ancient Riverbed On Mars Is Helping Perseverance Do Its Work

by Keith CowingJuly 19, 2023July 19, 2023

The six-wheeled geologist is getting some assistance in its search for diverse rock samples that could be brought to Earth for deeper investigation.

a, High Resolution Imaging ScienceExperiment (HiRISE) image of the region studied with the rover’s traverse marked in white, the boundary between the Séítah and Máaz fm delineated by the light blue line, and each rock target labelled. Scale bar, 100 m. b, Average number of fluorescence detections (out of 1,296 points) from survey scans for each target interrogated by SHERLOC, arranged in order of observation. *The acquisition conditions were different for dust-covered natural targets as compared to relatively dust-free abraded targets, possibly resulting in reduced detections. c, WATSON images of natural (red box) and abraded targets (Máaz is the blue box, Séítah is the green box) analysed in this study, with SHERLOC survey scan footprints outlined in white. Two survey scans were performed on Guillaumes, Dourbes and Quartier. Sol 141 imaging on Foux had an incomplete overlap of WATSON imaging and SHERLOC spectroscopy mapping. Scale bars, 5 mm. -- Nature

Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Fossils & Paleontology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Press Release

A New Study Reveals Evidence Of Diverse Organic Material On Mars

by Keith CowingJuly 13, 2023July 13, 2023

A new study featuring data from the NASA Mars Perseverance rover reports on an instrumental detection potentially consistent with organic molecules on the Martian surface, hinting toward past habitability of […]

This image shows the rocky outcrop the Perseverance science team calls “Berea” after the NASA Mars rover extracted a rock core (right) and abraded a circular patch (left). The image was taken by the rover’s Mastcam-Z instrument on March 30, 2023, the 749th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs

Perseverance Rover Collects First Sample Of Its New Science Campaign

by Keith CowingApril 1, 2023April 1, 2023

NASA’s Perseverance rover cored and stored the first sample of the mission’s newest science campaign on Thursday, March 30. With each campaign, the team explores and studies a new area. […]