Will NASA Find Remains of Ancient Life on Mars

As a child, I loved waking up early on Saturday morning, watching Looney Tunes Cartoons. Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, and others made Saturday mornings entertaining in my home. Looney Tunes introduced me to the character, Marvin the Martian. Dressed in a Roman soldier’s uniform and basketball shoes, Marvin played the role of villain on several cartoon episodes. I remembered wondering if life forms existed on Mars…maybe not miniature Marvin’s wearing knock-off Chuck Taylor’s…but life in general. Microscopic, giants, antennae sporting little green men…it really did not matter to me. I wanted to know if life existed on Mars. In the coming weeks and months, that mystery might finally be solved.

Webster's definition for the word 'perseverance' is as follows: continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition: the action or condition or an instance of persevering: steadfastness. This definition sums up the work of those employed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. And because of that steadfast work, today marks a very special day for NASA!

After nearly seven months of space travel, NASA's Perseverance Rover will make landfall on the planet of Mars later today (February 18, 2021). The Perseverance traveled almost 125 million miles with one main purpose, to search for ancient signs of life on the Red Planet. The rover will send back high-definition video and will also scoop up soil and rock samples to be studied and tested when Perseverance makes the long journey home. But first, for the research and video to be successful, Perseverance must land safely on the surface of the planet. This is no easy task. According to cnet , the data relay Perseverance will be utilizing is slower than even old dial-up connections. (Can't you just hear the squawking and squealing of dial-up now?)

Perseverance will be landing in the most rugged terrain ever attempted on any Mars Mission. The rover will touch down in the 28-mile wide Jezero Crater. According to NASA, the entry, descent, and landing (EDL) has been dubbed the "seven minutes of terror." It earned this name because all those steps (EDL) take place faster than the radio signals are transmitted from Mars to Earth. This truly can be designated as flying blind. Though there are several places online to watch this historic event, there will not be a live feed like we have become accustomed to from the International Space Station, as the rover will make touchdown well before we actually see it ourselves.

NASA's science team believes that the Jezero Crater once functioned as a lake, and now this dry lakebed is considered one of the most promising locations to look for evidence of ancient microbial life. Though this landing site holds promise of discovering signs of once living organisms, it is the most hazardous place to land. The landing site contains numerous boulders and rocks to the east, cliffs to the west, and according to NASA, "aeolian bedforms (wind-derived ripples in sand that could trap a rover) in several locations."

Matt Smith, flight director for Mars 2020 cruise operations says, “Surviving that seven minutes is really just the beginning for Perseverance. Its job — being the first leg of sample-return; to go look for those signs of past life on Mars — all that can’t start until we get Perseverance safely to the ground, and then that’s when the real mission begins.”

As Perseverance gathers soil samples and sends back video imagery, the science team will assign unofficial names to interesting regions and features. When they recognize a physical feature that looks like a national park or preserve here on earth, they will give that feature on Mars the corresponding name of its earthen counterpart. The plan is to find matching terrain to various places around the globe to give a nod to the diversity of those serving on the science team.

May NASA's venture be successful and may more mysteries of this incredible universe being unlocked for the world to see.