NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance has made an unparalleled discovery on the Red Planet. The US space agency announced that the rover collected a “unique treasure” from an area known as “Silver Mountain” in Mars, measuring 2.9 centimeters (1.1 inches). NASA stated that this is the first rock sample dating back approximately 4 billion years to the Noachian era in Mars’ geological history. Perseverance, currently exploring the hills and rocky areas at the edge of the Jezero Crater, is collecting rock samples to reveal the region’s geological history. The rocks in this area are of great interest to scientists as they are believed to offer a rare window into Mars’ ancient past. Scientists suggest that the rocks in the current area where Perseverance is located might have been ejected from the depths of Mars to the surface as a result of a meteorite impact billions of years ago. According to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) team, these rocks could be parts of the early Mars crust and could be among the oldest rocks discovered in the Solar System. Studying them could help us understand the structure of Mars and even the early formation of the Earth’s Solar System. Perseverance landed in the Jezero Crater in 2021 with several goals in mind:

Investigating signs of ancient life
Collecting rock samples like “Silver Mountain” for potential return to Earth
Testing new discovery technologies
Exploring Mars for four years, Perseverance discovered rocks that might have interacted with water in the past, carrying chemical traces. As water is essential for life on Earth, these discoveries are crucial in determining if there were habitable environments on Mars in the past. While scientists eagerly await to bring these and other samples from Mars to Earth for detailed examination, the future of the Mars Sample Return Program remains uncertain. The estimated cost of the program has risen to 11 billion dollars, making the return of samples to Earth unattainable before 2040. Consequently, NASA has started a comprehensive review of the plan and requested new proposals from industry and academic organizations. The new strategy is expected to be determined by 2026. Meanwhile, China aims to launch its own Mars Sample Return mission in 2028. If successful, China’s collected Mars samples could reach Earth by 2031.