00:00An epic discovery on Mars is their life in Jezero Crater.
00:05We are witnessing a truly epic chapter in humanity's mission to find.
00:10Evidence of ancient life beyond Earth.
00:13The focus of this story is the Jezero Crater on Mars.
00:17A site chosen by NASA because billions of years ago.
00:21It held a massive lake and an active river delta.
00:24It's a perfect environment for microbial life to have thrived.
00:27The protagonist of this mission is the Perseverance rover.
00:31Whose main goal is to drill and collect rock samples.
00:34That will eventually be brought back to Earth for detailed analysis.
00:38But the red planet still holds surprises.
00:41The story took an intriguing turn.
00:43When Perseverance investigated a rock formation in the crater known as Bright Angel.
00:49This site is located within an ancient river valley.
00:52The Nuretva Valis.
00:53Where scientists expected to find signs of a fast-moving, turbulent river.
00:59However, Perseverance's geological analysis told a completely different story.
01:05As the rover drove, it analyzed a sequence of fine sediments called mudstones.
01:11The presence of these particles composed of silica and clays.
01:15Suggested an unexpected conclusion.
01:18The area was not a swift river, but an ancient.
01:21Lonergy Lake, margin perhaps the very bed of the lake, that flooded the valley.
01:27This was the calm, life-favorable habitat the mission was looking for.
01:33With this lake scenario confirmed, the science team focused on the rock itself.
01:38And it was within these mudstones that the critical discovery was made.
01:42Tiny millimeter-scale structures described as nodules and reaction fronts.
01:46Chemical analysis revealed that these structures are enriched with very specific minerals.
01:53Iron phosphate and iron sulfide, likely vivianite and grigite.
01:57And this is where the finding becomes a compelling potential biosignature.
02:02The formation of these minerals occurred through reduction-oxidation redox reactions.
02:07A process that involves organic carbon.
02:10The crucial point is this.
02:12The formation of these structures could have been driven by non-biological chemistry.
02:17Or the most exciting possibility by biological chemistry.
02:22These ingredients and their byproducts mirror byproducts of microbial metabolism seen on Earth.
02:28This immediately raises the possibility that these structures are evidence of past microbial life on Mars.
02:35The scientific consensus is clear.
02:39While this is the most promising indication discovered so far, caution is necessary.
02:44For now, the discovery of life cannot be confirmed.
02:48The true nature of these structures can only be solved with much more sensitive instruments.
02:53And those instruments are here on Earth.
02:56Fortunately, the Perseverance rover has already drilled and cached a sample from this exact location,
03:03named Sapphire Canyon.
03:05This sample is the key piece of this profound puzzle and now awaits its journey home.
03:11The joint NACI-SA mission to bring the Mars sample back to Earth is scheduled for the 2030s.
03:17Only then, in sophisticated terrestrial laboratories,
03:21will humanity be able to answer the question that has driven this mission.
03:25Was the red planet inhabited?
03:27Money Explainers
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