NASA’s Perseverance rover has uncovered rock samples at the bottom of Crater Lake, possibly containing organic molecules. The work of a research team from the Natural History Museum in London and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is published in Science.

Previously, a shallow lake was located at the crater site. The crater was formed about 3.5 billion years ago when a meteorite struck the surface of Mars and then filled with water. In 2021, the Perseverance rover landed in the crater to collect rock samples from the Red Planet.

The scientists used data from the SHERLOC instrument to study the rocks and found the fluorescence of some organic compounds, such as carbonates, in the olivine-rich rocks they studied.

“Potentially, molecules could be the building blocks for life on Mars that never had time to fully emerge”researchers noted.

Once the rover returns to Earth with all the samples collected, scientists will be able to better study the organic matter. This will provide a better understanding of the origin of molecules.