A scientist at Purdue is leading a new phase of NASA’s Mars Rover mission on the red planet.

The rover Perseverance is exploring a long-dry lake bed on Mars, searching for potential evidence of ancient microbial life along the edge of the Jezero Crater. Purdue’s Briony Horgan is leading the research, saying the new region could possibly be like a “bathtub ring” with deposits of carbonate materials.

The crater once contained a lake the size of Lake Tahoe, and its rim could hold biological debris similar to what you find on beaches here on Earth.