Evidence Of "Completely Unexpected" Lava Flows (And Some Organics, Trapped In Crystals) At Jezero Crater, Revealed By Drilling.

This is a quite-compelling reason (as we said just yesterday) to move forward with a robotic sample return mission, from Barsoom, so that these rock samples may be precisely analyzed back here on Jasoom.

It is also a moment to point out (again) that risking human lives is not needed, to get this science done. Here's the latest from CNN, on it:

. . ."I was beginning to despair we would never find the answer," said Ken Farley, Perseverance project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, in a statement. Everything changed when Perseverance began using a drill on the end of its robotic arm to scrape away at the surfaces of rocks. "The crystals within the rock provided the smoking gun," Farley said.

Perseverance is armed with a suite of sophisticated instruments that can image and analyze these scraped rocks, revealing their composition and mineral content. Ones of these instruments is PIXL, or the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry. In November, Perseverance used its instruments to study a rock, nicknamed "Brac" by the team. The analysis revealed large olivine crystals surrounded by pyroxene crystals, both of which pointed to the fact that the rock came from volcanic lava flows.

"A good geology student will tell you that such a texture indicates the rock formed when crystals grew and settled in a slowly cooling magma -- for example a thick lava flow, lava lake, or magma chamber," Farley said.

"The rock was then altered by water several times, making it a treasure trove that will allow future scientists to date events in Jezero, better understand the period in which water was more common on its surface, and reveal the early history of the planet. Mars Sample Return is going to have great stuff to choose from."

Now, the team wants to know if the rocks containing olivine were formed by a cooling lake of lava, or if they originated from a subsurface chamber of lava that was later exposed due to erosion. . . .

I must admit, this moment particularly, is a wonderful spot in the long history of humanity, to be alive -- and be able to witness the discovery of whole new exo-geologies. And to know that there are in fact, organics -- trapped in crstaline prisms... over 225 million miles, from us, here on Earth. It makes the 500 miles, to [redacted] seem. . . so small. Smile. . . .

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