[ti:Turkish Lake Helps Scientists’ Search for Ancient Life on Mars]
[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:00.04]The American space agency NASA recently landed
[00:04.32]its robotic explorer Perseverance on the surface of Mars.
[00:10.40]Now, scientists are using information gathered at a lake
[00:15.56]in southwest Turkey to help them search
[00:18.76]for signs of ancient life on the distant planet.
[00:24.12]NASA says the minerals and rock sediments at Lake Salda
[00:29.44]are the closest match on Earth
[00:32.28]to those around Jezero Crater on Mars.
[00:37.56]The spacecraft landed in Jezero Crater
[00:41.16]and it is believed to have once been flooded with water.
[00:46.80]Information gathered from Lake Salda
[00:49.80]may help the scientists as they search
[00:52.80]for signs of ancient microorganisms in sediment around the crater.
[01:00.48]A team of American and Turkish scientists
[01:04.64]carried out research in 2019 around the edges of the lake.
[01:11.80]Scientists believe that the sediments around the lake
[01:16.32]came from large deposits formed with the help
[01:20.28]of microorganisms known as microbialites.
[01:26.12]The team supporting the Perseverance spacecraft
[01:29.48]wants to find out whether there are microbialites in Jezero Crater.
[01:36.28]They will compare the sediments from Lake Salda
[01:39.72]with carbonate minerals discovered on the edges of Jezero Crater.
[01:45.72]Carbonate minerals are made from carbon dioxide and water,
[01:50.48]two important elements of life.
[01:54.40]Thomas Zurbuchen is the associate administrator of NASA.
[02:00.00]He told Reuters, “When we find something at Perseverance
[02:04.20]we can go back to look at Lake Salda to really look at both processes,
[02:09.36]looking at similarities but equally importantly differences
[02:13.84]that are really between Perseverance and Lake Salda.”
[02:19.04]“So we are really glad we have that lake,
[02:22.20]just because I think it will be with us for a long time,” he added.
[02:28.76]I’m Jonathan Evans. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM