The Mars Rover Opportunity reached the Endeavour crater about three weeks ago after a long journey and it’s already making discoveries that are very interesting from a scientific point of view.

The first rock examined is quite small, about 12 inches (30 cm) tall, apparently the result of an impact that dug a crater on the Endeavour crater rim. This rock has been informally called “Tisdale 2”.

This rock has attracted interest because it revealed a composition similar to some volcanic rocks but with much more zinc and bromine than we could have expected. On Earth, zinc can be commonly found in rocks that have been exposed to hot water.

The Mars Rover Opportunity was sent to the Endeavour crater because among other things the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter satellite had detected the presence of clay minerals and ancient geological deposits dating back to when Mars was young.

The images of the area taken by the Mars Rover Opportunity show sedimentary rocks that appear to have been cut and filled with materials that may have been carried by water.

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These findings confirm that environmental conditions when Mars was young could have been favorable to life. Of course saying that there were actually life forms on Mars isn’t possible, at least for now. The question of the possibility of life on Mars has been controversial for several years: many discoveries of recent years show that for a certain period Mars was much more like Earth, however that’s not enough.

So far there has been no real evidence found on Mars that actual life forms have existed in the distant past, let alone in the present. There’s a whole planet to explore and if in the past some forms of life have existed it’s possible that somewhere there are some fossils but we can’t know for sure. We might remain uncertain for a long time.

Regardless of the existence of life forms on Mars, the discovery made by the Mars Rover Opportunity in the Endeavour crater are already proving to be very interesting from a scientific point of view. The new information that scientists are getting about Mars history make them think that reaching Endeavour is the equivalent of a new mission. Not bad at all for this extraordinary probe that keeps on working more than seven years after the end of its original mission.