In 2033 we could learn if there has been life on Mars

NASA´s Perseverence Rover has collected its 19^th sample of Martian rock matter, the first to be collected from the top of the river delta on the Red Planet.

Last Thursday, the car-sized robot drilled down into the sediment of Jezero Crater on the Red Planet, marking the first sample of its new campaign.

It has been roaming Mars for almost a year now, looking for sampling sites that might contain ancient microbes and organics to bring back to Earth to study.

Since 2022, the robot has completed its first of four search campaigns, which focused on the crater floor and the base of the Neretva Vallis delta.

Now it has started its second campaign, where it will hunt for worthy rocks at the top of the delta. These are both part of the ‘Mars Sample Return campaign’, being conducted by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).

Perseverance will deliver the samples to a robotic lander which will arrive on Mars in the future, which will use a robotic arm to place the 19 tubes of samples in the containment capsule of a small rocket.

The rocket will then be launched out into Mars’ orbit, and another ESA spacecraft, called the Earth Return Orbiter, will come by to pick up the containment capsule.

This will then be brought back to Earth by 2033, marking the first time samples will have been brought back from Mars.

The latest samples came from a rock dubbed ‘Berea’, which is thought to have formed from rock deposits left by an ancient river.

This river may have taken material from a region on Mars outside the Jezero Crater Perseverence has been exploring, making it of specific interest to scientists.

It is also rich in carbonate, which is known to be good at preserving fossilised lifeforms on Earth.

Scientists hope the Martian carbonates will reveal insight about the climate on the Red Planet when it was covered in liquid water about three billion years ago.

US space agency NASA wants these rocks to be brought back to Earth in the 2030s.

Scientists hope that, as well as offering clues about potential ancient life on the Red Planet, they will also reveal more about the climate on Mars and how it has evolved.

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