Rocks found on Mars are some of the strongest clues yet of past life

"Rolling across the rugged, rusty red terrain on Mars, NASA's Perseverance rover came upon some rocks with peculiar green, blue, black and white dots. After detailed image analysis, scientists have come to a potentially encouraging conclusion: If those speckled rocks were formed like they are on Earth, they might be evidence of past life on the dusty planet. The rocks, or mudstones, are composed of finely packed sediment and covered in specks resembling poppy seeds and leopard spots."

"The colorful features, the study found, are minerals that - on Earth - have traditionally been created from microbial activity. The research team would need to investigate pieces of the rocks in person to confirm if a Martian microbe was behind the unusual patterns. That's far easier said than done. But Hurowitz called the rocks "probably the most astrobiologically exciting" samples identified by the Perseverance rover since it landed on Mars in 2021."

"The rover has been exploring an area known as the Jezero Crater, which scientists believe was once a lake bed with aspects that made it conducive to life. The rocks were found inside Neretva Vallis, an ancient river valley that shuttled water to the crater billions of years ago. "The thing I find most exciting about this sample is that it contains features large enough to be seen with the naked eye that could be examined to test for past life," said Michael Tice, a study co-author and Mars 2020 science team member."

NASA's Perseverance rover discovered mudstone rocks on Mars exhibiting green, blue, black and white speckles. Image analysis indicates the speckles are minerals that on Earth commonly form from microbial activity, suggesting potential biosignatures. The rocks were located in Neretva Vallis within Jezero Crater, an ancient lake and river environment that once transported water to the basin. Direct confirmation requires in-person analysis of rock samples, which is logistically challenging. The visible, macroscopic features make these samples unusually testable for ancient microscopic life. Scientists regard these mudstones as among the most astrobiologically promising materials collected by the rover since its 2021 landing.

Read at The Washington Post