Mars probe: NASA solves years of mystery ‘completely unexpectedly’

Only landed in February 2021 NASA the Mars rover on the surface of the red planet. But Percy has already made a discovery that surprised even researchers. Lava is said to have flowed at the site of an ancient lake, Jezero crater, on Mars. Organic traces can also be detected on the rocks.

NASA’s Mars Rover: Volcanic Activity Found

The latest records from the Mars rover indicate that the rocks recently examined by the rover were formed from lava flows – a finding that was “completely unexpected” even for scientists involved in the mission, such as CNN mentioned. So far they have assumed that the layered rocks depicted by perseverance were sediments.

In addition, stone samples collected so far by NASA’s Mars rover are said to have interacted with water several times, and some even contained organic molecules. For the researchers, these findings mean a new way to determine an accurate sequence of events at Jezero crater. For years, experts have questioned the sedimentary nature of the rocks there.

NASA researchers are happy to find them

“I was desperate whether we would ever find the answer.”

Ken Farley, Associate Scientist of the Perseverance Project

NASA researchers are finally getting close to this, When the Mars rover began scraping the surface of stones. Farley explains that the crystals inside then revealed “irrefutable evidence.” The discovered olivine and the pyroxene stored around it indicate that the rock was formed by a lava flow.

The NASA team now wants to know if the stones containing the olivine were created by a cooling lake of lava or if their source was a lava chamber below the surface that was later revealed through erosion.

Sources: CNN