NASA Perseverance rover on Mars discovered signs of microbial life on 21 July on a rock named Cheyava Falls which is an arrow-shaped rock. The rover drilled the reddish rock sample when it made this discovery on the northern edge of Neretva Vallis.
The rover examined the piece and discovered organic molecules and building blocks of life reported by Ken Farley, the project scientist on the mission at the California Institute of Technology on July 25 at a conference.
2014 in the Gale Crater region rover discovered an organic molecule and again in 2024, “We’re not able to say that this is a sign of life,” says Perseverance deputy project scientist Katie Stack Morgan of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, Calif. “But this is the most compelling sample we’ve found yet.”
The rock sample is 3ft by 2ft rock has a formation similar to the Earth's fossilised microbes which was a piece of huge evidence that water was once passed through the rock.
Farley said, “the most puzzling, complex and potentially important rock yet investigated by Perseverance”, he further added, “On the one hand, we have our first compelling detection of organic material, distinctive colourful spots indicative of chemical reactions that microbial life could use as an energy source, and clear evidence that water, necessary for life, once passed through the rock.”
Research and evidence revealed that Mars was a wet planet and had the presence of water and traces of this are on the rocks present in the Martian surface.
Perseverance’s Sherloc instrument observed the rock and revealed that organic compounds like carbon-based molecules could possibly be the building block for life formation.
Other compounds like calcium phosphate, haematite and the presence of iron oxide compounds that give Mars its red colour are also present there. According to NASA, the return of the sample from Mars is costing over budget at $11bn (£8.5bn) which will not happen before 2024.
While these findings are compelling, scientists are cautious and emphasize that more research is needed to draw definitive conclusions about life on Mars. The discovery, however, NASA is finding companies that can return the Mars samples sooner and at lower cost. for bringing pieces of Mars back to Earth for further study.
This could help determine whether the signs indeed point to past life or if there are other explanations for these features. The Perseverance mission continues to explore the ancient river delta in Jezero Crater, where these discoveries were made and may uncover more clues about the planet’s history and habitability.
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