NASA Will Search For Fossil On Mars, Will We Find Life There?

What's the first thing popping in your head when you hear the word 'fossil'? Dinosaurs, probably? Now, NASA will look for fossil on Mars, but not the kind of fossil you may have just thought of.

And the Mars 2020 rover from NASA will take care of this mission. The space agency highlighted a new study published this week that reveals some interesting formations taking place around the Jezero Crater’s inner rim where the rover’s planned to land on. These deposits of concentrated carbonate mineral are compared to a bathtub ring laying around what used to be a lake somewhat 3.5 billion years ago.

NASA said that on our home planet, carbonates contribute to the formation of structures that are hardy enough to survive for billions of years in the form of fossil, including coral, seashells, as well as some stromatolites, which are rocks formed on Earth by ancient microbial creatures living along ancient shorelines where there was a lot of water and sunlight.

The space agency does not expect that it will find seashells, but hopefully, the rover will search thoroughly for stromatolites.  It would be thrilling if the rover found the signs of microbial life on a planet that is still considered inhospitable. In addition, the investigation into the carbonate deposits may shine more light on the way Mars, from a watery place, transitioned to a barren planet.

NASA is now putting the Mars 2020 rover together, which is set to launch in mid-2020. If everything goes as planned, the rover will land on the crater in Feb 2021.