NASA’s Perseverance rover has identified intriguing chemical and mineral patterns in Mars’ Jezero Crater that may point to the planet’s potential for past microbial life.
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover is seen in a "selfie" that it took over a rock nicknamed "Rochette", September 10, 2021.
Credit: NASA/JPL-CALTECH
In July 2024, Perseverance encountered Cheyava Falls, a striking rock formation within the “Bright Angel” outcrops along the northern and southern edges of Neretva Vallis. This ancient river channel, nearly 400 meters wide, once funneled rushing water into Jezero Crater. The rover’s investigation revealed sedimentary rocks made of clay and silt — prime materials for preserving traces of microbial activity on Earth.
“These results are a direct outcome of NASA’s mission planning and execution — to find exactly this kind of evidence,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “By publishing these findings, we’re inviting the global science community to weigh in and test whether what we see is truly biological in origin.”
Perseverance’s PIXL and SHERLOC instruments detected colorful mineral spots on an arrowhead-shaped rock about one meter wide. High-resolution analysis revealed “leopard spots” — distinct patterns formed by the minerals vivianite (hydrated iron phosphate) and greigite (iron sulfide). On Earth, vivianite often occurs in wetlands and around decaying matter, while certain microbes can produce greigite as a byproduct of metabolism.
“The mix of compounds we’re seeing could have provided energy for microbial metabolisms,” explained Joel Hurowitz, lead author of the study from Stony Brook University. “But chemical signatures alone don’t prove life — we had to carefully consider both biological and non-biological explanations.”
While the minerals could form through non-living processes such as extreme heat or acidic conditions, the Bright Angel rocks show no signs of such environments. This strengthens, though does not confirm, the case for a biological origin.
The finding was unexpected because the rocks studied are among the youngest sedimentary layers yet analyzed by Perseverance. Scientists had long believed that any traces of ancient Martian life would likely be preserved in much older formations. This discovery raises the possibility that Mars remained habitable later in its history than once thought.
“Astrobiological claims demand extraordinary evidence,” said Katie Stack Morgan, Perseverance’s deputy project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “This peer-reviewed study is a key milestone, but abiotic explanations are still on the table. We must remain cautious until more data confirms or rules out biology.”
The results add to Perseverance’s growing catalog of discoveries. Since landing in February 2021, the rover has collected 27 rock cores, including one from “Sapphire Canyon,” while also testing spacesuit materials and gathering weather data to support future human missions.
For now, the scientific community will continue examining the evidence through established frameworks such as the CoLD scale and Standards of Evidence. Each step brings researchers closer to answering humanity’s oldest question: Are we alone in the universe?
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