Assistant Professor Valerie Payré was invited for a public seminar at the Cedar Amateur Astronomers event on August 16th in front of a crowd excited to know more about the most recent discoveries on Mars. The audience got to learn about famous volcanoes including the highest mountain of the Solar System, Olympus Mons and its ~72,000 feet of elevation, as well as a striking rock found last Summer by the NASA Perseverance rover that hide evidences of chemical reactions releasing energy for microbial life - if it ever existed.
The monthly newsletter and journal of the Cedar Amateur Astronomers, Inc.: “Dr. Valerie Payré presented to a standing room only crowd. The largest turn-out this year. There were a lot of questions after the formal presentation. A very interesting program.”
(Image Left) Valerie Payré at the Cedar Amateur Astronomeurs event.
(Image Right) Image of “Cheyava Falls” rock with markings indicating leopard spots and olivine in the rock ©NASA/JPL. The image was captured by the WATSON instrument on NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. Running the length of the rock are large white calcium sulfate veins. Between those veins are bands of material whose reddish color suggests the presence of hematite. Spotting of this type on sedimentary terrestrial rocks can occur when chemical reactions involving hematite turn the rock from red to white. Those reactions can also release iron and phosphate, possibly causing the black halos to form, and they can be an energy source for microbes, hence the association between such features and microbes in a terrestrial setting.
Details in Tice et al. (2025): https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2025/pdf/2581.pdf