Jezero Crater is a site on the Martian surface where NASA expects the upcoming Mars 2020 rover to land and begin its initial exploration.
This site is of particular importance to NASA because it’s believed to have hosted a deep body of water as large as Lake Tahoe just before the planet’s climate shifted and all surface water vanished from sight.
Given what we know about lakes here on Earth, ex-lakes are excellent places to go looking for signs of past and present life, even on other planets. Evidence of life can often be preserved in the dirt, mud, and sand buried beneath the former lakebed.
Mars 2020 will take full advantage of this idea, collecting sediment samples from Jezero Crater to discern the likelihood of past life on Mars. Afterward, the rover will explore the former shoreline and crater rim, attempting to collect more samples for scientific study.
It should be interesting to see what Mars 2020 uncovers when it reaches Mars.
