(WIVB)– A former Buffalo State professor is playing a big role in this latest mission to Mars.
Dr. John Grant co-lead the process for selecting the landing site for Perseverance rover.
He says Jezero Crater was an ideal spot.
Its status as an ancient lake bed could hold clues as to whether there was once life on Mars. Dr. Grants says the samples collected from the crater, will be the gift that keeps on giving.
“And those samples will be eventually returned to earth, where they can be looked at much like the apollo samples have been for decades to come and will be like a new mission every time we look at them.”
Dr. John Grant, Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, National Air and Space Museum
Dr. Grant calls perseverance a capstone mission that is only possible due to its predecessors laying the groundwork.
