NASA's Perseverance rover has been exploring Mars' Jezero Crater since 2021 with the primary objective to investigate the environments that could have supported life in the past on the Red Planet.
In order to do that, the rover is busy collecting samples for possible return to Earth, where they can be meticulously studied. Jezero Crater was the obvious choice for research because orbital data revealed evidence of abundant water in ancient times; there's an old (now dry) river delta that used to supply Jezero Crater with water.
After all, the name Jezero, in some Slavic languages, means "lake." What's more, this former lake might have just done a lot to help Perseverance find signs of ancient Martian life -- rocks with strange patterns potentially created by organic reactions.
