NASA scientists find possible traces of life on Mars

"Scientists from the U.S. space agency NASA announced Wednesday the discovery of chemical and geological traces on the surface of Mars that could indicate the presence of life, although they acknowledge that they cannot confirm this until these samples are returned to Earth on a future mission as yet undated. The discovery was made by the Perseverance rover in Jezero Crater, where a large lake and river system existed billions of years ago."

"Scientists have identified organic matter carbon in several samples, especially in the objectives the team named Chevaya Falls, Temple of Apollo, and Walhalla Glades. This organic matter could have reacted with minerals present in the rocks, giving rise to some striking nodule-shaped and greenish leopard-skin-like patches that NASA had previously highlighted as interesting samples in the search for past life."

"Perseverance has collected a sample of these rocks called Sapphire Canyon which it has placed in a sealed capsule that will be left on the surface of the crater until the arrival of a new robotic mission that can collect it and bring it back to Earth for more detailed analysis. The chances that this discovery is due to the presence of life, scientists argue, are slightly higher than the likelihood it was caused by an inert chemical phenomenon. But for now, it is impossible to rule out either hypothesis, researchers from NASA acknowledge in a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature."

NASA's Perseverance rover in Jezero Crater detected chemical and geological traces that could indicate past life. The rover examined Bright Angel Formation outcrops in the Neretva Valley composed of clayey rocks and water-deposited conglomerates. Several samples, notably at sites named Chevaya Falls, Temple of Apollo, and Walhalla Glades, contain organic matter—carbon—along with nodule-shaped and greenish, leopard-skin-like patches formed by mineral reactions. A rock sample called Sapphire Canyon was sealed in a capsule on the crater floor for eventual return to Earth. Laboratory analysis on Earth is required to determine whether these minerals and organics are true biosignatures or abiotic products.

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