Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The lead scientist for the NASA Perseverance rover is upbeat regarding how much material has been stuffed in tubes, both dropped on the surface of Mars, as well as contained within the rover itself while wheeling about within Jezero Crater.

Tagged “Lefroy Bay,” Caltech’s Ken Farley called attention to this sample collected by the Perseverance rover, found to have hydrated silica. Here on Earth, that mineral has the highest potential to preserve signs of ancient life.

Given the samples of Mars that Perseverance has collected so far, could one of those specimens be what the rover was sent to look for in the first place: evidence of past microbial life on the Red Planet?

Lively question

So a lively question wanting of an answer arises: Perhaps Lefroy Bay carries preserved signs of ancient life on Mars?

Sample collected tagged as Lefroy Bay at the Margin Unit may have been deposited either in a lake or in a groundwater system. Both are very important settings for understanding Mars habitability and habitation at Jezero Crater.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ken Farley

Go to my new Space.com story – “Perseverance rover’s Mars rock sample may contain best evidence of possible ancient life” – at:

https://www.space.com/the-universe/mars/perseverance-rovers-mars-rock-sample-may-contain-best-evidence-of-possible-ancient-life