NASA Rover Captures Evidence of Ancient Flooding on Mars
A recent image released by NASA’s Perseverance rover has unveiled clear evidence of the ancient floods that once ravaged the surface of Mars. The image shows large and heavy boulders covering part of the Jezero Crater, a dried-up river delta, indicating the significant water-filled past of the planet.
According to NASA, the rounded boulders in the image are believed to have been washed into Jezero Crater by strong flood waters billions of years ago. This occurred during one of three major periods identified by scientists in the development of the lake and river system that occupied Jezero in the ancient past.
The image reveals an area called “Castell Henllys,” captured by the Perseverance rover from a distance of 328 feet. The boulder-strewn region provides clear evidence of the momentous floods that coursed through a flat Martian plain 3.5 billion years ago before breaching the crater’s walls and leaving behind a trail of boulders.
Similarly, NASA’s Curiosity rover has also spotted evidence of water-related events on Mars, with colossal debris flows on Mount Sharp hurling mud and car-sized boulders down the mountain, leaving a noticeable ridge today.
One of the primary objectives of the Perseverance rover is to search for potential signs of past life on Mars, as the Jezero Crater once hosted streams, rivers, and a sprawling 22-mile-wide lake. NASA is hopeful that the rover’s exploration of this region’s wet soils could yield evidence of past microbial life on the Red Planet.
In addition to exploring for signs of past life, the Perseverance rover is also collecting pristine samples of the Martian surface. NASA intends to closely examine these samples and their contents, and plans to send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis in conjunction with the European Space Agency (ESA).