Jezero Crater, Landing Site for the Mars Perseverance Rover. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/JHU-APL
Jezero Crater, Landing Site for the Mars Perseverance Rover
This image of Jezero Crater, the landing site for the Mars Perseverance Rover, was taken by instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which regularly takes images of potential landing sites for future missions. NASA chose Jezero crater as the landing site for the Perseverance rover because scientists believe the area was once flooded with water and was home to an ancient river delta.
Jezero crater tells a story of the on-again, off-again nature of the wet past of Mars. More than 3.5 billion years ago, river channels spilled over the crater wall and created a lake. Scientists see evidence that water carried clay minerals from the surrounding area into the crater lake. Conceivably, microbial life could have lived in Jezero during one or more of these wet times. If so, signs of their remains might be found in lakebed or shoreline sediments.
這張傑澤羅隕石坑的影象是火星毅力號火星車的著陸點，由美國宇航局火星勘測軌道器上的儀器拍攝，該軌道器會定期為未來的任務拍攝潛在著陸點的影象。 NASA 選擇 Jezero 隕石坑作為毅力號火星車的著陸點，因為科學家們認為該地區曾經被洪水淹沒，並且是古老河流三角洲的所在地。
Jezero 隕石坑講述了火星潮溼過去時斷時續的故事。 超過 35 億年前，河道溢位火山口壁並形成了一個湖泊。 科學家們看到了水將粘土礦物從周邊地區帶入火山口湖的證據。 可以想象，微生物生命可能在這些潮溼時期的一個或多個時期生活在 Jezero。 如果是這樣，他們的遺體跡象可能會在湖床或海岸線沉積物中找到。
