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Could Nasa's latest rover to Mars find evidence of life?

Nasa's Perseverance rover is the first wheeled robot to be sent to Mars with the direct objective of searching for life. The vehicle will use its instruments to inspect the rocks in Jezero Crater, a big bowl near the planet's equator that satellite images suggest held a lake billions of years ago. It's in this lake's sediments that we may find evidence of past biology. Our science correspondent Jonathan Amos spoke with the Perseverance project scientist, Ken Farley.

Read more: Nasa's Perseverance rover is bearing down on Mars

28 January 2021

Curiosity rover

Extraterrestrial life

Nasa Perseverance Mars rover

Space exploration

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American astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams posing for a portrait inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station

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Image shows a white rocket launching from the launchpad, with white smoke visible at the bottom and an orange fire

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A view of the northern lights above the earth from space

Mesmerising auroras captured over Earth from space and on the ground

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Spacecraft launches to investigate asteroid threats to Earth

Crew on board the ISS

Joyful welcome by stranded astronauts for SpaceX capsule crew

Oleg Kononenko

Watch: Space crew returns to Earth after longest stay on ISS

Sarah Gillis emerges from a capsule into dark space

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Science & Environment

Black and white picture of capsule being hanging below three parachutes

Starliner undocks from ISS and returns to Earth without crew

Cargo spacecraft with Earth in the background

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A woman, mimicking a weightlifter, pushes up a bar with two men on either end

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Column of fire after rocket sets off from launch pad

Moment Ariane-6 rocket blasts into space on first flight

Science & Environment

Lunar probe in a field, next to Chinese flag and with helicopter in bacground

Moment China's lunar probe lands back on Earth

Astronaut Suni Williams arrives at International Space Station

Astronauts in Boeing capsule arrive at space station

Boeing Starliner takes off

Moment of lift-off for Boeing Starliner's first crewed mission

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This is what it's like inside a black hole

Science & Environment

Robot dog in Oregon

Robot dog trains to walk on Moon in Oregon trials

Inside the cockpit of the jet in flight

A look inside the Nasa jet chasing the solar eclipse

Starship

SpaceX launches its mammoth Starship rocket

Science & Environment

People in high-vis jackets walk next to a car submerged in floods on the left of a split screen with a snowy road on the right

Atmospheric river dumps snow and record rain on California

The weather event has multiplied damages from the 'bomb cyclone' seen in the US north-west earlier this week.

Science & Environment

A man walks in front of an uprooted tree, the roots of which tower over him

Fallen trees cause widespread damage after bomb cyclone

Two people died in the storm that hit the West coast of the US and Canada overnight.

Science & Environment

A yellow alert for high winds gusting up to 60 mph (97km/h) covers the whole of Scotland

Weather forecast ahead of Storm Ashley

A yellow alert for high winds gusting up to 60 mph (97km/h) covers the whole of Scotland.

Science & Environment

The Hunter's supermoon is seen shining brightly between two buildings, as the moon shines through London's skyline on 17 OCtober

Stargazers around the world catch supermoon

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Science & Environment

SpaceX's Super Heavy booster fires out of its exhaust at the bottom of the rocket itself while it lands into the rocket launcher holder that it fired out of, during SpaceX Starship's fifth flight test, in Boca Chica, Texas, U.S., October 13, 2024

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Science & Environment

SpaceX Starship booster caught in mid air

Watch astonishing moment Starship booster caught in mid-air 'chopsticks manoeuvre'

It’s the first time the "chopsticks manoeuvre" has been attempted, with previous boosters landing in the ocean.

Science & Environment

Split screen showing weather presenter giving remote update and Hurricane Milton satellite image

Meteorologist becomes emotional giving Hurricane Milton update

The weather system has rapidly intensified into a category five storm with winds of up to 175mph (281km/h).

Science & Environment

Suni Williams and Barry 'Butch' Wilmore grin as they float aboard the International Space Station

'Space is my happy place,' says stranded astronaut

Suni Williams and Barry 'Butch' Wilmore gave an update from the ISS on their extended stay in space.

Science & Environment

Bow of Titanic missing section of railing

Video shows Titanic missing large section of railing

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Science & Environment

A video grab shows the northern lights (Aurora Borealis) flickering over the earth's surface with the moon setting in the background, and parts of the Internation Space Station (ISS) visible in the foreground. The Earth's curvature can be seen as it rotates

Watch: The Northern Lights seen from space

A timelapse captured from the International Space Station shows the Moon setting into streams of aurora.

Science & Environment

Pink and green Northern Lights hang in the sky above a car in a field

Timelapse shows Northern Lights glowing above Wisconsin

The footage reveals the light show that concurred with the Perseid meteor shower earlier this week.

Science & Environment

The Titan Arum plant took 12 years before it successfully flowered in the venue's Glasshouse in 2015.

Rare 'corpse flower' blooms in botanical gardens

The Titan Arum plant produces a stench that has been compared to decaying flesh or smelly socks.

Science & Environment

High winds and waves on coast

High winds and heavy rain as Caribbean hit by hurricane

Hurricane Beryl has made landfall with floods in Barbados, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada.

Science & Environment

Humpback whale's tail

Why scientists are using a crossbow to study whales

Researchers use the device to take remote biopsies from wild humpback whales to monitor their health.

Science & Environment

Female duck and chicks

Duckling family march to safety at Hardwick Hall

The annual duck march has been a tradition at Sedgefield’s Hardwick Hall Hotel for the past 24 years.

Science & Environment

Mountain lion in Los Angeles

Video captures new mountain lion spotted in Hollywood

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Science & Environment

Sea lion on row boat

Malnourished sea lion jumps into rowing boat

The animal stayed in the boat for over 15 minutes and was later taken to get medical care.

Science & Environment

Squid attacking camera

Rare footage shows deep-sea squid attacking camera

Watch video of the super-fast Dana squid getting a close-up 1km below the Pacific Ocean's surface.

Science & Environment

BBC Environment Correspondent Jonah Fisher asks Water Minister Robbie Moore

BBC asks if quality of water for bathing really is improving

BBC environment correspondent talks to water minister about bathing water quality

Science & Environment

BBC News Climate Editor Justin Rowlatt talks to a marine biologist about our warming oceans

'If I were a barnacle I'd be worried'

BBC News Climate Editor Justin Rowlatt talks to a marine biologist about our warming oceans

Science & Environment