Meet the Mars Samples: Shuyak and Mageik (Samples 14 and 15)

Meet two of the Martian samples that have been collected and are awaiting return to Earth as part of the Mars Sample Return campaign. As of late July 2023, NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover has collected and sealed 20 scientifically selected samples inside pristine tubes. The next stage is to get them back for study.

Considered one of the highest priorities by the scientists in the Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032, Mars Sample Return would be the first mission to return samples from another planet and provides the best opportunity to reveal the early evolution of Mars, including the potential for ancient life. NASA is teaming with ESA (European Space Agency) on this important endeavor.

Learn more about Samples No. 14 and 15 – “Shuyak” and “Mageik,” a pair of sedimentary rock core samples that excite scientists because, on Earth, this type of sedimentary rock preserves signs of life for a very long time. If that same process also occurs on Mars, it could help us understand if life ever existed there.

Read about all the carefully selected samples: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars-rock-samples

Learn more about the Mars Sample Return campaign: https://mars.nasa.gov/msr

A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover characterizes the planet's geology and past climate, paves the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and is the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).

TRANSCRIPT

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MARS ROCK SAMPLES

SAMPLE 14 & 15: SHUYAK & MAGEIK

TYPE: SEDIMENTARY

LOCATION: AMALIK, DELTA FRONT

SUNANDA SHARMA
ASTROBIOLOGIST - MARS PERSEVERANCE ROVER

Sunanda Sharma: Sample 14 is called “Shuyak” and sample 15 is “Mageik,” and we got them from a rock called “Amalik” in the Delta Front. So Amalik was a really interesting rock because it looked like a relatively fine grained rock that had clay. And on Earth fine grain and clay are sort of thought of as the holy grail for where you would find biosignatures, because there's a lot of good evidence that it preserves signs of life for a really long time.

RACHEL KRONYAK
SCIENCE OPERATIONS - MARS PERSEVERANCE ROVER

Rachel Kronyak: These sedimentary rock samples that were collected from the Delta front, these are the rocks that we came to Jezero Crater to collect because they represent lake environments where we have fine grained mudstone and siltstone deposits, where we're hoping to find signs of organic molecules and potential biosignatures. We’re looking for signs of ancient life on Mars, and these are the rocks that we think have the best potential to preserve those signs.

Sunanda Sharma: Out of this pair, we dropped Mageik at our Three Forks sample depot.

Rachel Kronyak: We're really excited about this sample pair because these represent more samples of fine grained siltstone and mudstone deposits.

Sunanda Sharma: On Earth if you go to a fine grained clay bearing rock, you'd be like, wow, amazing, perfect, great, this is where I'm going to find signs of life. And if that isn't true on Mars, this rock will be a really good test.

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For more information on Mars Rock Samples: mars.nasa.gov/mars-rock-samples