"The most enthralling rock yet found on Marsa speckled hunk of mudstone that just may contain evidence of ancient alien lifeis still worth getting excited about. Teased last year in a preliminary announcement from NASA, that's the official conclusion of a peer-reviewed paper, published today in Nature, that reports a deeper analysis of the curious outcrop. Were it found on Earth instead of Mars, the rock's speckles would likely be interpreted as evidence for a microbial feeding frenzy that occurred long ago."
"But getting certainty about what this rock truly contains likely requires hauling it off the Red Planet and delivering it back to Earthan ambitious multiphase mission that NASA calls Mars Sample Return. The rock in question is packed with organic carbonanother promising prerequisite for lifeand lies within a lithic formation called Bright Angel, which is exposed along a channel called Neretva Vallis."
Perseverance rover has explored Jezero Crater since 2021, targeting a former lake-and-delta system. A speckled mudstone in the Bright Angel formation along Neretva Vallis contains abundant organic carbon and distinct speckled textures that, if found on Earth, would likely be interpreted as remnants of an ancient microbial feeding frenzy. The channel and delta formed from flowing water, indicating warm, wet conditions in the past. Definitive confirmation that the textures record biological activity requires returning samples to Earth via the Mars Sample Return campaign. The evidence raises the possibility that Mars hosted microbial life but falls short of conclusive proof.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
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