Nasa scientists head to Highlands in hunt for Mars life clues
The team hiked the cliffs of Scotland’s Stoer formation, where 1.2 billion-year-old rocks hold signs of ancient microbial life.
Nasa scientists have travelled to the Scottish Highlands to study rocks that could help them interpret evidence of ancient life on Mars, the agency has said.
The team, Nasa’s Goddard Instrument Field Team, based at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, spent the summer hiking the coasts and cliffs of the Clachtoll region, near the Bay of Stoer in the north-west Highlands.
The rocks there formed 1.2 billion years ago, before land plants existed, and hold evidence of ancient microbial life, Nasa said. Both Mars and the Stoer formation have layered areas of mudstones and siltstones rich in clay minerals, which Nasa said made the rocks a rare match for ancient Martian lakes and rivers.
The fieldwork follows questions raised when Nasa’s Perseverance rover found reduction spots, telltale signs of a chemical reaction that could point to ancient microbial life, in the Jezero Crater on Mars, as part of an announcement of potential Martian biosignatures last year.
Climbs in Scotland were timed to reach investigation sites between high tides and leave the slopes safely while they were still dry, Nasa said, calling it not always an easy task in the wet climate of the Scottish Highlands.
Scientists used handheld instruments to check mineral and chemical compositions on the spot, searched their surroundings for clues about the ancient environment, and identified and collected samples for further analysis, according to the agency.
With the samples now back in the United States, an interdisciplinary coalition of scientists is using laboratory tools that cannot be carried into the field to examine the chemical and mineral traces of ancient life preserved in the Stoer rocks, Nasa said.
The expedition was led by the Goddard Instrument Field Team with collaboration from Nasa’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, the University of Glasgow, the University of Maryland, Purdue University, Stony Brook University and the University of Cambridge.
Nasa said the follow-on work was designed to help scientists interpret data already sent back from Mars, help mission teams plan new rover investigations, and prepare the scientific community for the analysis of Martian rock samples in the future.