Westminster University Presents: Astrobiology and Utah

Mars orbiters and rovers have mapped extensive evaporite deposits on Mars, similar in chemistry to the Bonneville Salt Flats and the playa around Great Salt Lake. Where the Perseverance rover is coring samples, the sulfate minerals are much like those we are exploring in the lakebed. The lake mineral deposits can entomb living microorganisms and biological molecules. If life was ever in the water that evaporated from Jezero Crater, could Perseverance discover microorganisms or their remnants in the mineral cores? Come hear how our research at Westminster's Great Salt Lake Institute is informing these astrobiology investigations.