A color-enhanced image of the delta in Jezero Crater, which once held a lake. It will be the landing site of NASA's Mars 2020 rover. Researchers led by CRISM team member and Brown graduate student Bethany Ehlmann report that ancient rivers ferried clay-like minerals (shown in green) into the lake, forming the delta. Clays tend to trap and preserve organic matter, making the delta a good place to look for signs of ancient life.
The image combines information from two instruments on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter: the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) and the Context Camera (CTX).
NASA/JPL/JHU-APL/MSSS/Brown University
2008-07-16
<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/multimedia/jezero-20080716.html">http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/multimedia/jezero-20080716.html</a> (<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/260184main_jezero.jpg">image link</a>); see also <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23239">https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23239</a>