Rock samples collected by Perseverance reveal Mars had a 'habitable sustained ...

Rock samples collected by Perseverance reveal Mars had a 'habitable sustained ...
Rock samples collected by Perseverance reveal Mars had a 'habitable sustained ...

NASA announced Friday that the first rocks collected by the Perseverance rover on Mars reveal the Jezero Crater was once 'a potentially habitable sustained environment.'

The news follows the rover's successful mission of collecting two rock samples, named 'Montdenier' and 'Montagnac,' earlier this week.

The core samples have a basaltic composition, which scientists say may have formed from ancient lava flows and could provide a timeline of the ancient lake – from when it formed to when it disappeared.

NASA already knows the crater was once filled with water, but for how long remains a mystery.

But the level of alteration that scientists see in the rock that provided the core samples – as well as in the rock the team targeted on their first sample-acquisition attempt – suggests that groundwater was present for a long time.

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NASA announced Friday that the first rocks collected by the Perseverance rover on Mars reveal the Jezero Crater was once 'a potentially habitable sustained environment'

NASA announced Friday that the first rocks collected by the Perseverance rover on Mars reveal the Jezero Crater was once 'a potentially habitable sustained environment'

Perseverance collected the rock samples September 6 and 8, and the team has since been analyzing them from 239 million miles away.

Mitch Schulte of NASA Headquarters, the mission's program scientist, said in a statement: 'These samples have high value for future laboratory analysis back on Earth.

'One day, we may be able to work out the sequence and timing of the environmental conditions that this rock's minerals represent. This will help answer the big-picture science question of the history and stability of liquid water on Mars.'

The ground team determined there are salts within the rock samples that may have formed when groundwater flowed through and altered the original minerals in the rock, or more likely when liquid water evaporated, leaving the salts.

The news follows the rover's successful mission of collecting two rock samples, named 'Montdenier' and 'Montagnac,' earlier this week

The news follows the rover's successful mission of collecting two rock samples, named 'Montdenier' and 'Montagnac,' earlier this week

The ground team determined there are salts within the rock samples that may have formed when groundwater flowed through and altered the original minerals in the rock, or more likely when liquid water evaporated, leaving the salts

The ground team determined there are salts within the rock samples that may have formed when groundwater flowed through and altered the original minerals in the rock, or more likely when liquid water evaporated, leaving the salts

'The salt minerals in these first two rock cores may also have trapped tiny

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