NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover exploring sediment-rich location in ancient river delta

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has started exploring Yori Pass, a sediment-rich location near the base of Jezero Crater's ancient river delta. This region offers tantalizing opportunities for the mission's science team as a rock similar to one the six-wheeled rover collected samples from in July was spotted here.

"What's especially interesting about the Yori Pass outcrop is that it is laterally equivalent with ‘Hogwallow Flats,’ where we found very fine-grained sedimentary rocks. That means that the rock bed is located at the same elevation as Hogwallow, and has a large, traceable footprint visible on the surface," said Katie Stack Morgan, Perseverance deputy project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

After collecting a sample from Yori Pass, the Perseverance rover will drive 745 feet (227 meters) southeast to a mega sand ripple. Located in the middle of a small dune field, the ripple – called “Observation Mountain” by the science team – will be where the rover collects its first samples of regolith, or crushed rock and dust, according to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.

Do I geek out about cool-looking sandstone? You bet.A shallow scouring with my drill’s abrasion bit shows this rock has veins of lighter material inside. Could it hold clues about ancient life? Time for more #SamplingMars. More on “Yori Pass”: https://t.co/raefWPc9JZ pic.twitter.com/glecOQ49wk

— NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) November 17, 2022

As of now, NASA's Perseverance has collected 14 rock-core samples, one atmospheric sample and three witness tubes, all of which are stored in the rover’s belly and will be returned to Earth for further analysis as part of the Mars Sample Return campaign.

Scientists believe the cored samples from the ancient river delta's fine-grained sedimentary rocks are most likely to contain indicators of whether microbial life existed when the Red Planet's climate was much different than what it is today.