Hello, Martians, this is Earth speaking!

One of the mission's objectives is to deepen our knowledge of the geology and soil of Mars. Perseverance will collect samples of rock cores in metal tubes, which will be carefully preserved. Future missions, scheduled for 2030, will then return these samples to Earth for further study.

These future NASA missions will be carried out in cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA), which will send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface, and thus return them to Earth for in-depth analysis in laboratories around the world.

In this journey of discovery, the first geological map of Mars is coming. But what tools will Perseverance use to make it happen? Come along and we'll tell you!

In the search for biosignatures, the set of cameras and apparatus contained in the rover will be essential. Understand the instruments!

• Mastcam-Z: zoom function to inspect scientifically interesting targets;
• SuperCam: ability to fire a laser at a promising target, generating a small cloud of plasma that can be analysed to help determine the chemical composition;
• Robotic Arm: when the target deserves special attention, the team can command this arm to take a closer look;
• PIXL: this is a planetary instrument for X-ray lithochemistry. It will use an X-ray beam to search for possible chemical fingerprints from past lives;
• SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals): Equipped with a laser, the instrument will be able to detect concentrations of organic molecules and minerals that have formed in aqueous environments. Together with PIXL, we will have high-resolution maps of elements, minerals and molecules in Martian rocks and sediments, allowing astrobiologists to assess their composition and determine the most promising cores to collect.

Scientists on the Mars 2020 Mission hope to find biosignatures in Jezero. 3.5 billion years ago, the site was a large lake and even though the water has dried up, biological evidence is believed to be in the crater. However, Ken Williford, project scientist, emphasises that it is important to keep an open mind.

The hope is to find a feature on the surface that relates to biological evidence within its crystals. Thus, a structure that refers to these characteristics on Earth are the stromatolites which are colonies of fossilised cyanobacteria. On Earth, they occur along ancient coastlines, where sunlight and water are abundant. The Jezero coast, billions of years ago, is the kind of place where stromatolites could have been formed, and preserved to this day.

According to an article in Olhar Digital At the beginning of February this year, NASA, the Italian Space Agency (ASI), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced their intention to develop a mission to detect and study ice deposits on Mars.

The International Mars Ice Mapper mission will detect the location, depth, extent and abundance of ice deposits close to the surface. An orbiting radar would help identify the properties of dust, loose rock material known as regolith, and solid layers of rock that could impact the ability to access the ice.

Ice on the Red Planet, as well as being essential for survival, is also a critical natural resource that could provide hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel. Resources for backup support for survival, civil engineering, mining, manufacturing and, eventually, agriculture on Mars.

You may have heard of Jarosite, the mineral from Mars! It was first found on the Red Planet in 2004 by Opportunity. Recently, researchers found the same mineral in Antarctica, sparking new discussions about the Martian environment.

At the time it was found, Jarosite attracted scientific attention in terms of its formation. The formation of Jarosite requires water, sulphur, potassium and acidic conditions, which is a rare scenario on modern-day Mars. As a result, various investigations into the subject have been carried out by the scientific community, such as the formation from the evaporation of small amounts of acidic water, which has not proved to be very likely.

So, to introduce Jarosite, it's a yellowish-brown mineral found in mining waste exposed to rain and air on Earth. A recent study, led by Giovanni Baccolo, a geologist at the University of Milan-Bicocca, has brought the subject to light with new clues about the Martian environment. Jarosite has been found in Antarctica!

Baccolo's discovery came unexpectedly when they were searching for minerals that could indicate ice age cycles. During an excavation at a depth of 1620 metres, they found residues of the same mineral. The discovery was confirmed by measuring X-ray absorption and using electron microscopes.

Based on this study by Baccolo, an article was published article was published in Nature Communications, indicating that Jarosite forms in the same way on Mars. Therefore, there are indications that glaciers have contributed to the chemical composition of Mars.

In the meantime, we await the results of the Mars 2020 mission and the next missions that will return with the samples. Science's journey towards the geology of the Red Planet has only just begun!

For those of you who like a good film and want to venture into a story set on the Red Planet, here's a film tip: Lost on Mars is a 2015 American science fiction film. Of course, not everything is true, after all, we're talking about a film production, but it's worth a look!

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