Perseverance Rover Arrives At Jezero Delta

The delta is one of the features of the Jezero crater which made it such an appealing place to send a rover. That’s because researchers wanted to look in places where water had been present for a long time, and not places where water only flowed briefly. Jezero is exciting because it has an outlet valley, showing water pooled there and then overflowed (via Digital Trends). That means scientists can be confident that the delta they see there now was indeed full of water for a significant amount of time.

This makes the delta one of the most important areas for the rover to explore. “We’ve been eyeing the delta from a distance for more than a year while we explored the crater floor,” said Ken Farley, one of the Perseverance project scientists from Caltech. “At the end of our fast traverse, we are finally able to get close to it, obtaining images of ever-greater detail revealing where we can best explore these important rocks.”

The rover could head up to the plateau at the top of the delta twice, collecting samples as it goes, because there is so much scientific value to see in the area.

“The delta is why Perseverance was sent to Jezero Crater: It has so many interesting features,” said Farley. “We will look for signs of ancient life in the rocks at the base of the delta, rocks that we think were once mud on the bottom of ‘Lake Jezero.’ Higher up the delta, we can look at sand and rock fragments that came from upstream, perhaps from miles away. These are locations the rover will never visit. We can take advantage of an ancient Martian river that brought the planet’s geological secrets to us.”