A rover on Mars that has been hunting for signs of life is preparing for a trek to the rim of a 4 billion year-old crater, where it could uncover mysteries of the planet’s geologic history.
The Perseverance rover, a $2.7 billion Nasa mission, has been studying the floor and river delta of the Jezero crater for the past 30 months, collecting rocks that suggested the site once hosted a lake.
On Monday, its journey towards the crater rim begins at an elevation of 300 metres, a journey that will involve the rover climbing steep slopes of up to 23 degrees.
“Our samples are already an incredibly scientifically compelling collection, but the crater rim promises to provide even more samples that will have significant implications for our understanding of Martian geologic history,” said Eleni Ravanis, one of the crater rim campaign science leads.
“This is because we expect to investigate rocks from the most ancient crust of Mars.
“These rocks formed from a wealth of different processes, and some represent potentially habitable ancient environments that have never been examined up close before.”
The crater rim, which was formed by the powerful impact that created the Jezero crater billions of years ago, holds valuable information about Mars’s past.
Unlike the sedimentary rocks Perseverance studied on the crater floor, which were shaped by ancient water activity, the rim is expected to host materials that were ejected during the impact.
These materials could include rocks from deeper beneath Mars’s crust, offering a chance to study unaltered material that has not been shaped by surface processes like water erosion.
The rover has travelled 29km and collected 22 rocks so far, with more expected to be stored away as the mission continues.
Nasa is working with the European Space Agency to bring back the samples, in an ambitious return mission that will be finished by the end of this decade.
Scientists are excited about the rocks collected at the river delta, which are the first sedimentary rocks to be discovered on a planet other than Earth.
These rocks are formed by minerals and organic particles often found in water-rich environments.
Finding them on Mars suggests the planet used to have water, meaning the conditions could have existed to support microbial life.
“Among these rock cores are likely the oldest materials sampled from any known environment that was potentially habitable,” said Tanja Bosak, a geobiologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US and a member of Perseverance’s science team.
“When we bring them back to Earth, they can tell us so much about when, why and for how long Mars contained liquid water and whether some organic, prebiotic and potentially even biological evolution may have taken place on that planet.”
The rover arrived on the planet in 2021 as part of the most expensive mission ever developed, which also included the Ingenuity helicopter.
Ingenuity made history as the first aircraft to achieve powered flight on another planet, and completed more than 70 successful flights.
Initially designed for just five flights, it exceeded expectations and continued to operate until its final flight on January 18 this year, when one of its rotor blades was damaged.
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Panipat
Director Ashutosh Gowariker
Produced Ashutosh Gowariker, Rohit Shelatkar, Reliance Entertainment
Cast Arjun Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Kriti Sanon, Mohnish Behl, Padmini Kolhapure, Zeenat Aman
Rating 3 /5 stars
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
Dunki
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
The Little Things
Directed by: John Lee Hancock
Starring: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto
Four stars
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo hybrid
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 390bhp
Torque: 400Nm
Price: Dh340,000 ($92,579
Results
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m; Winner: Rawat Al Reef, Adrie de Vries (jockey), Abdallah Al Hammadi (trainer)
5.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: Noof KB, Richard Mullen, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m; Winner: AF Seven Skies, Bernardo Pinheiro, Qaiss Aboud
6.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Jabalini, Szczepan Mazur, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
7pm: UAE Arabian Derby – Prestige (PA) Dh150,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Dergham Athbah, Richard Mullen, Mohamed Daggash
7.30pm: Emirates Championship – Group 1 (PA) Dh1,000,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Somoud, Richard Mullen, Jean de Roualle
8pm: Abu Dhabi Championship – Group 3 (TB) Dh380,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Irish Freedom, Antonio Fresu, Satish Seemar
TECH%20SPECS%3A%20APPLE%20WATCH%20SERIES%208
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THE SPECS
Engine: 4.0L twin-turbo V8
Gearbox: eight-speed automatic
Power: 571hp at 6,000rpm
Torque: 800Nm from 2,000-4,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 11.4L/100km
Price, base: from Dh571,000
On sale: this week
Liverpool's all-time goalscorers
Ian Rush 346
Roger Hunt 285
Mohamed Salah 250
Gordon Hodgson 241
Billy Liddell 228
Profile of Tarabut Gateway
Founder: Abdulla Almoayed
Based: UAE
Founded: 2017
Number of employees: 35
Sector: FinTech
Raised: $13 million
Backers: Berlin-based venture capital company Target Global, Kingsway, CE Ventures, Entrée Capital, Zamil Investment Group, Global Ventures, Almoayed Technologies and Mad’a Investment.
Avengers: Endgame
Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Josh Brolin
4/5 stars