Jezero

Studying lake deposits in Idaho could give scientists insight into ancient traces of life on Mars

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 6, 2024
Perseverance (rover), Wax, Rover (marque), Plant, Lipid, Life, Research, History, DNA, Jezero, Biomarker, NASA, Carbon, Climate, Erosion, Planet, Water, Learning, Lignin, Bed, Dicarboxylic acid, Fats, Limestone

If so, how do scientists search for and identify it?

Key Points: 
  • If so, how do scientists search for and identify it?
  • Finding life beyond Earth is extremely difficult, partly because other planets are so far away and partly because we are not sure what to look for.


Contained within northern Idaho’s Clarkia Middle Miocene Fossil Site are sediments that preserve some of Earth’s most diverse biological marker molecules, or biomarkers. These are remains of past life that offer glimpses into Earth’s history.

An ancient lake

  • About 16 million years ago, a lava flow in what would one day become Clarkia, Idaho, dammed a local drainage system and created a deep lake in a narrow, steep-sided valley.
  • Although the lake has since dried up, weathering, erosion and human activity have exposed sediments of the former lake bed.


Today, ancient lake beds on Earth are becoming important settings for learning about habitable environments on other planets.

Biological marker molecules

  • These compounds, or classes of compounds, can reveal how organisms and their environments functioned in the past.
  • Since the discovery of the Clarkia fossil site in 1972, multiple research teams have used various cutting-edge technologies to analyze different biomarkers.

Studying life signatures on Mars

  • In 2021, the Mars Perseverance Rover landed on top of lake deposits in Mars’ Jezero Crater.
  • Microbial life may have lived in Jezero’s crater lake, and their biomarkers might be found in lake bed sediments today.
  • The samples Perseverance is collecting contain the geologic and climate history of the Jezero Crater landing site and may even contain preserved biomarkers of ancient life.
  • That means we are developing ways to figure out whether ancient biomarkers from Earth, and hopefully Mars, are true echoes of life – rather than recent contamination or molecules from nonliving sources.
  • To do so, we are studying biomarkers from Clarkia’s fossil leaves and sediments and developing laboratory experiments using Martian simulants.


Robert Patalano receives funding from the NASA Rhode Island Space Grant Program.

NASA Will Inspire World When It Returns Mars Samples to Earth in 2033

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Transfer, Containment, Energy Return System, NASA, Ingenuity, European Space Agency, Apollo, ESA, Perseverance (rover), Partnership, Probability, Australian Space Agency, National academy, Multimedia, Architecture, Technology, Science, NASA Headquarters, Program, Engineering, Moon, Longevity, Red Planet, Jezero, Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri, Communications satellite, Risk management, Gypsum, Jezero (crater), Mars sample-return mission, Mars, Perseverance, Mars sample-return mission

Perseverance will be the primary means of transporting samples to NASA's Sample Retrieval Lander carrying the Mars Ascent Vehicle and ESA's Sample Transfer Arm .

Key Points: 
  • Perseverance will be the primary means of transporting samples to NASA's Sample Retrieval Lander carrying the Mars Ascent Vehicle and ESA's Sample Transfer Arm .
  • As such, the Mars Sample Return campaign will no longer include the Sample Fetch Rover or its associated second lander.
  • With planned launch dates for the Earth Return Orbiter and Sample Retrieval Lander in fall 2027 and summer 2028, respectively, the samples are expected to arrive on Earth in 2033.
  • Bringing Mars samples to Earth would allow scientists across the world to examine the specimens using sophisticated instruments too large and too complex to send to Mars and would enable future generations to study them.

NASA Perseverance Mars Rover to Acquire First Sample

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, July 21, 2021
Spaceflight, Outer space, Discovery and exploration of the Solar System, Mars rovers, Mars, Perseverance, Jezero, Rover, Sample-return mission, NASA, Outline of Mars, Octavia E. Butler Landing

WASHINGTON, July 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA is making final preparations for its Perseverance Mars rover to collect its first-ever sample of Martian rock, which future planned missions will transport to Earth.

Key Points: 
  • WASHINGTON, July 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA is making final preparations for its Perseverance Mars rover to collect its first-ever sample of Martian rock, which future planned missions will transport to Earth.
  • "I have every expectation that Perseverance's first sample from Jezero Crater, and those that come after, will do the same for Mars.
  • The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is the first step in NASA's Mars Sample Return Campaign.
  • The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

NASA Invites Public to Take Flight With Ingenuity Mars Helicopter

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, April 6, 2021
Spaceflight, United States, Spacecraft, Discovery and exploration of the Solar System, Mars rovers, Mars, Ingenuity, Perseverance, Jezero, MiMi Aung, Octavia E. Butler Landing

WASHINGTON, April 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA is targeting no earlier than Sunday, April 11, for Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's first attempt at powered, controlled flight on another planet.

Key Points: 
  • WASHINGTON, April 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA is targeting no earlier than Sunday, April 11, for Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's first attempt at powered, controlled flight on another planet.
  • Ingenuity arrived at Mars' Jezero Crater Feb. 18, attached to the belly of NASA's Perseverance rover.
  • The helicopter is a technology demonstration with a planned test flight duration of up to 31 days (30 Mars days, or sols).
  • The flight date may shift as engineers work on the deployments, preflight checks, and vehicle positioning of both Perseverance and Ingenuity.

NASA to Provide Update on Perseverance 'Firsts' Since Mars Landing

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, March 3, 2021
Spaceflight, Mars rovers, Discovery and exploration of the Solar System, Outer space, United States, Mars Exploration Program, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Perseverance, Jezero, Mars, Rover

WASHINGTON, March 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Since NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover touched down at Jezero Crater Feb. 18, mission controllers have made substantial progress as they prepare the rover for the unpaved road ahead.

Key Points: 
  • WASHINGTON, March 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Since NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover touched down at Jezero Crater Feb. 18, mission controllers have made substantial progress as they prepare the rover for the unpaved road ahead.
  • Members of the media and public also may ask questions on social media during the teleconference using #CountdownToMars.
  • Since landing, NASA's largest, most sophisticated Mars rover yet has gone through checks on every system and subsystem and sent back thousands of images from Jezero Crater.
  • Each system checkout and milestone completed marks a significant step forward as the rover prepares for surface operations.

Mission Successful: XOS Optics Land on Mars with NASA's 2020 Perseverance Rover

Retrieved on: 
Monday, March 1, 2021
United States, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Perseverance, Mars, Spaceflight, Spacecraft, Jezero, XOS

With millions watching the event via live stream, Perseverance touched down in the Red Planet's Jezero Crater at 3:56 pm Eastern Time.

Key Points: 
  • With millions watching the event via live stream, Perseverance touched down in the Red Planet's Jezero Crater at 3:56 pm Eastern Time.
  • XOS, a technology company based out of East Greenbush, New York, proudly plays a role in the mission, supplying the rover's custom polycapillary X-ray focusing optics.
  • Visit xos.com/mars2020 for more information on micro-XRF, polycapillary optics, and XOS' part in Perseverance's mission.
  • XOS' polycapillary optics can be used in many applications, including plating thickness, forensics, cultural heritage, and elemental mapping.

Motiv Technology to Reach Mars on Thursday as part of Mars 2020 Mission

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 18, 2021
Spaceflight, Discovery and exploration of the Solar System, Mars rovers, Mars Exploration Program, United States, In spaceflight, Mars, Perseverance, Jezero, Rover

Once it's landed, the rover will rely on several technologies developed by Motiv Space Systems, a space robotics company based in Pasadena, California.

Key Points: 
  • Once it's landed, the rover will rely on several technologies developed by Motiv Space Systems, a space robotics company based in Pasadena, California.
  • It should reach speeds of over 12,000 mph before slowing down with the aid of a parachute, and landing in the Jezero Crater.
  • While the other systems provided by Motiv aren't as large or visible, they're equally critical in allowing the rover to complete its mission.
  • "During its mission," said Thayer, "the Perseverance Rover will be able to do things no previous Mars rover could do, thanks to the unique technology it has onboard."

NASA to Hold Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Launch Briefing

Retrieved on: 
Monday, June 15, 2020
Mars rovers, NASA, Planets, Spaceflight, Mars, Launch Services Program, Jezero

WASHINGTON, June 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --NASA leadership and a panel of scientists and engineers will preview NASA's next mission to the Red Planet, the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, at a media briefing at 2 p.m. EDT Wednesday, June 17.

Key Points: 
  • WASHINGTON, June 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --NASA leadership and a panel of scientists and engineers will preview NASA's next mission to the Red Planet, the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, at a media briefing at 2 p.m. EDT Wednesday, June 17.
  • The live briefing will stream on Facebook , Ustream , YouTube , Twitter , NASA Television and the agency's website .
  • Omar Baez, launch director in NASA's Launch Services Program at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
  • The launch is managed by NASA's Launch Services Program .It will land at Mars' Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021.