Speckled Martian rocks ‘clearest sign’ yet of ancient life

AFP | Paris

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Colorful, speckled rocks found on the surface of Mars have offered among the most encouraging evidence yet of ancient life on our neighboring planet, scientists at NASA announced Wednesday.

The Perseverance Mars rover collected the “Sapphire Canyon” rock samples in July 2024 from what’s thought to be an ancient lakebed, and its poppyseed and leopard-esque spots pointed to potential chemical reactions that piqued the interest of researchers.

If the features resulted from microbial activity that created minerals in the way they do on Earth -- well, that might point to life on Mars.

It’s far too soon for scientists to say that definitively, but the findings, which were detailed in research published in the journal Nature, are alluring.

“We put it out to our scientific friends to pressure test it, to analyze it, and go, did we get this right? Do we think this is signs of ancient life on Mars?” NASA’s Acting Administrator Sean Duffy said at a news conference.

“They said, ‘Listen, we can’t find another explanation.’ So this very well could be the clearest sign of life that we’ve ever found on Mars.”

“It’s kind of the equivalent of seeing like leftover fossils, leftovers from a meal, and maybe that meal has been excreted by a microbe,” Nicky Fox, administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, told journalists.

When those kinds of mineral and textured features form in sediment on Earth, it’s frequently the product of reactions from mud and organic matter, explained the study’s lead author Joel Hurowitz -- a potential “biosignature,” or sign of life.

Specifically, Perserverance’s instruments identified the minerals vivianite and greigite. On Earth, vivianite is often found in sediments, peat bogs, and around decaying organic matter. Some forms of microbial life on Earth can produce greigite.