Mars specimen contains blue minerals found on Earth

The green olivine mineral in the latest specimen collected by the Perseverance robot exists abundantly in the Earth's mantle.

Perseverance successfully obtained a third specimen containing olivine. (Photo: NASA)

Since landing on Mars earlier this year, NASA's Perseverance rover has been roaming the red planet, collecting soil and rock samples to send back to Earth. In its most recent operation, Perseverance raked a small patch of soil to view the structure beneath the topsoil. It is a rock containing a green mineral called olivine. According to a NASA representative, the latest specimen comes from a rock filled with the mineral olivine. Researchers have several theories as to how olivine got there.

Olivine is a magnesium iron silicate compound that makes up most of the Earth's mantle. This mineral is green in color, very famous for its blue sand-covered Papakōlea beach in Hawaii. Minerals such as olivine often occur in hardened volcanic rock.

The 45-kilometer-wide Jezero crater, where the Perseverance robot first landed in February 2021, was once an ancient lake bed in a giant river delta, rich in compounds such as olivine, carbonate, and organic molecules. muscle. NASA is exploring the link between olivine and carbonate. Carbonate usually forms when carbon dioxide mixes with liquid water. Because Mars has no tectonic plates, geological formations born billions of years ago have not changed much today, allowing researchers to understand the history of the planet and the possibility of life.

Perseverance's main mission is to search for signs of life on Mars in the past and collect dozens of samples to bring back to Earth in early 2031. The six-wheeled robot collected the first two samples as early as September this year. Perseverance had traveled several hundred meters and was exploring the rugged, sandy area called Séítah in the Jezero Crater. The Séítah contains layered rocks, making it an ideal location for specimen collection.