NASA’s Perseverance rover has been gathering samples from Mars since 2021, however one among its most not too long ago collected rocks may assist it obtain its objective of discovering proof of historical life on the planet. Nicknamed Cheyava Falls after the tallest waterfall within the Grand Canyon, the three.2 ft by 2 ft pattern accommodates “chemical signatures and structures” that might’ve been fashioned by historical microbial life from billions of years in the past.
Perseverance collected the rock on July 21 from what was as soon as a Martian river valley carved by flowing water way back. The pattern, which you’ll see in shut up beneath and from afar on the middle of the picture above, displays massive white calcium sulfate veins working alongside its size. They point out that water did run via the rock at one level.
Extra importantly, it accommodates millimeter-size marks that appear to be “leopard spots” throughout its central reddish band. On our planet, these spots may type on sedimentary terrestrial rocks when there are chemical reactions that flip hematite, one of many minerals answerable for Mars’ reddish coloration, to white. These reactions can launch iron and phosphate, which may’ve served as an vitality supply for microbes.
The rover’s Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) device already decided that the black rings across the spots comprise iron and phosphate. Nevertheless, that does not mechanically imply that the rock actually did function a number for historical microbes.
The spots may’ve been fashioned by non-biological processes, and that is one thing scientists must work out. “We cannot say right now that we have discovered life on Mars,” Katie Stack Morgan, the deputy project scientist, said. “However what we’re saying is that now we have a possible biosignature, which is a set of options that might have a organic origin however do want additional research and extra knowledge.”
NASA still has to bring back the samples Perseverance had collected to our planet, including Cheyava Falls. As The New York Times notes, the Mars Sample Return mission is years behind schedule and would not be able to bring back rocks from the red planet until 2040 instead of in the early 2030’s like originally planned. NASA recently asked aerospace companies for alternative solutions on how to get the samples to Earth much sooner and will finance their studies due later this year. Scientists will also have to conduct extensive testing to rule out contamination and non-biological processes, as well as other possible explanations for how the leopard spots had formed, before they can proclaim that they’re indeed evidence of ancient Martian life.
