Overview

• The peer‑reviewed study in Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets compiles high‑resolution mineral identifications from Perseverance’s first 1,100 sols, led by Rice University’s Eleanor Moreland.
• Researchers used the MIST algorithm with uncertainty propagation to assign confidence levels to each mineral match and to inform the rover’s sampling strategy.
• Results outline three alteration phases: localized high‑temperature acidic fluids on the crater floor, more moderate neutral waters over a larger area, and a widespread low‑temperature alkaline episode marked by sepiolite.
• The mineral framework provides context for separate Nature findings in the Bright Angel formation that report organics and iron‑phosphate/iron‑sulfide microtextures as potential biosignatures that remain unconfirmed without Earth‑lab testing.
• Perseverance’s cached samples await a return plan as NASA evaluates approaches for retrieval or in‑situ analysis, with the timeline for bringing them to Earth now pushed into the 2040s.