More Wondrous Barsoomian Geology Underway -- Perseverance Now Sampling Some Of The Oldest Rocks On The Martian Surface... Perhaps 5 Billion Years On...

It is a vast privilege to be alive during an era when the inter-planetary sciences are advancing by leaps and bounds, month by month -- due to NASA and JPL and ESA and JAXA and the Indian, Chinese and Russian science efforts all leap-frogging forward, and often in concert.

This spirit of close cooperation would be a wonder to be seen, should it start to "spill over" -- into our international politics, more broadly. [But anything like that. . . will have to await the end of 47's term, at a minimum -- to be certain.] Still, here is the midday's fascinating and great update -- from my favorites -- John Carter / Barsoomian / Jezero Crater:

. . .NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover is exploring a new region of interest the team is calling “Krokodillen” that may contain some of the oldest rocks on Mars. The area has been on the Perseverance science team’s wish list because it marks an important boundary between the oldest rocks of Jezero Crater’s rim and those of the plains beyond the crater.

“The last five months have been a geologic whirlwind,” said Ken Farley, deputy project scientist for Perseverance from Caltech in Pasadena. “As successful as our exploration of “Witch Hazel Hill” has been, our investigation of Krokodillen promises to be just as compelling.”

Named by Perseverance mission scientists after a mountain ridge on the island of Prins Karls Forland, Norway, Krokodillen (which means “the crocodile” in Norwegian) is a 73-acre (about 30-hectare) plateau of rocky outcrops located downslope to the west and south of Witch Hazel Hill.

A quick earlier investigation into the region revealed the presence of clays in this ancient bedrock. Because clays require liquid water to form, they provide important clues about the environment and habitability of early Mars. The detection of clays elsewhere within the Krokodillen region would reinforce the idea that abundant liquid water was present sometime in the distant past, likely before Jezero Crater was formed by the impact of an asteroid. Clay minerals are also known on Earth for preserving organic compounds, the building blocks of life. . . .

Now you know -- still gray here, but the rains are at an end. . . and it is warming up -- maybe even enough for a lakeside bike ride, followed by some hot soup! Grin!

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