NASA finds potential signs of ancient life in Mars rock samples: Details unveiled

tech.hindustantimes.com:

NASA's Perseverance rover has made a notable discovery on Mars, observing a rock with intriguing chemical signatures and structures that could hint at ancient microbial life. While this is not definitive evidence of past life on Mars, the find has generated considerable excitement among scientists studying the red planet.

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On July 21, the Perseverance rover collected a sample from an arrowhead-shaped rock in the Neretva Vallis riverbed, which formed long ago when water flowed into Jezero Crater. The science team operating Perseverance has nicknamed this rock "Chevaya Falls." Utilizing the rover's SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals) instrument, the team conducted multiple scans of the rock. These scans revealed distinctive colourful spots containing iron and phosphate, which are indicative of certain chemical reactions that, on Earth, are often associated with the fossilized record of subsurface microbial life.

David Flannery, an astrobiologist from the Queensland University of Technology and a member of the Perseverance science team, remarked, "These spots are a big surprise. On Earth, these types of features in rocks are often associated with the fossilized record of microbes living in the subsurface." However, he emphasized that this discovery does not constitute direct evidence of past microbial life on Mars.

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The presence of iron and phosphate in the rock, along with organic chemicals, suggests a plausible source of energy for microbes and is consistent with the possibility of ancient life. However, confirming extraterrestrial life involves a rigorous seven-step process known as the CoLD scale (Confidence of Life Detection). The detection of these spots represents just the first step.