""The identification of a potential biosignature on the Red Planet is a groundbreaking discovery, and one that will advance our understanding of Mars," said interim NASA administrator Sean Duffy in a statement, arguing this is the "closest we have ever come to discovering life on Mars.""
""The combination of chemical compounds we found in the Bright Angel formation could have been a rich source of energy for microbial metabolisms," said Stony Brook University associate professor Joel Hurowitz, coauthor of a new paper published in the journal Nature about the finding, in the statement."
""But just because we saw all these compelling chemical signatures in the data didn't mean we had a potential biosignature," Hurowitz explained. "We needed to analyze what that data could mean.""
NASA's Perseverance rover collected samples from a rock named "Cheyava Falls" in an ancient dry riverbed on Mars after encountering it in July 2024 at the Bright Angel rock formation. Instruments detected layers of clay and silt and chemical compounds that are known on Earth to preserve and potentially support microbial life. Colorful spots on the rock prompted detailed sampling and analysis. The detected structure and chemical signatures suggest a possible biological origin, but scientists emphasize that non-biological explanations have not been ruled out and further research is required.
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