"In the past we thought we found signs of life, and when we put [our findings] out to the scientific community they would come back and say, well, listen - there are different explanations,"
"A year ago we found what we believe to be signs of microbial life on Mars' surface,"
"After a year of review [the scientific community] has come back and said it can't find another explanation."
"This is a signature - a leftover sign - not life itself," Fox added. "It's the equivalent to seeing leftover fossils from a meal excreted by a microbe."
A rock sampled by the Perseverance rover, called "Sapphire Canyon," contains a chemical signature that researchers have been unable to explain through simple abiotic processes. The sample was analyzed remotely via rover instruments and photography rather than direct laboratory study. The detected signature is interpreted as a leftover fossilized residue from microbial activity rather than living organisms. Researchers spent a year attempting to identify nonbiological explanations and found none that fit all the data. The finding is described as the closest evidence to ancient life on Mars so far, though not conclusive proof.
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