Apparently, it existed in a form familiar to humans.
Marking its 1000th Martian day, NASA’s Perseverance rover has completed its exploration of the ancient river delta in Jezero Crater. It managed to uncover evidence of a huge lake in it hundreds of millions of years ago.
The Mars rover collected a total of 23 samples (all the size of a piece of school chalk). They allowed scientists to learn new data about the geological history of this part of the Red Planet. Particularly curious were two of them, which were even given separate names – “Gulf of Lefroy” and “Otis Peak”.
The first contains a large amount of fine-grained silica. On Earth, this material helps preserve ancient fossils.
The second sample was even more interesting, as it was found to contain large amounts of phosphates. These are often associated with life as we know it. Both are also rich in carbonates, which have preserved evidence of environmental conditions since their formation.
