US EditionNASA Discovers 'Clearest Sign' Yet of Ancient Life on Mars in a Rock Studied by the Perseverance Rover
Perseverance's 27th rock sample from Mars' Jezero Crater reveals mineral patterns that may be chemical traces of ancient microbial life, published in Nature on Sept. 10.
- NASA’s Perseverance rover touched down in Mars’ Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021, to explore the area for evidence of past microscopic life.
- In 2024, the Perseverance rover extracted a core from a rock known as 'Cheyava Falls' situated in an ancient dry riverbed, with the sample itself designated as 'Sapphire Canyon.'
- Using the PIXL spectrometer, the team analyzed the Maz formation rocks and found mineral aggregates that could represent a potential biosignature.
- During a September 10, 2025 news briefing, NASA Acting Administrator Sean Duffy described the discovery as the most significant step yet toward finding evidence of life on Mars.
- This discovery advances understanding of Mars and supports future sample-return missions, though extraordinary evidence and Earth-based analysis remain essential.
25 Articles
25 Articles
The significance of Mars rover's latest discovery
This week, NASA said scientists took the biggest step yet toward discovering whether there was ever life on Mars when a rock sample collected by the Mars rover Perseverance contained potential biosignatures, which could suggest ancient signs of life. Douglas Jerolmack, a professor of Earth and environmental science at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses the significance of the discovery.
NASA discovers ‘clearest sign of life that we’ve ever found on Mars’
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…
NASA Says Rock Samples Are The 'Closest' We've Come To Finding Ancient Life On Mars
Mars-red-planet-Martian-surface Rock samples discovered by NASA Perseverance Rover are “the closest we’ve actually come to discovering ancient life on Mars,” according to acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy. Based analysis of the markings on the rocks, scientists believe they contain minerals that may be a byproduct of microbes seen on Earth. While scientists won’t rule out the markings being caused by natural geological processes, they are sig…
Volcanic history and clues to ancient life on Mars
Researchers use the sophisticated technology on NASA's Perseverance rover to analyze volcanic rocks in Mars' Jezero Crater. Their findings show that some of the same volcanic processes that led to life on Earth happened long ago on Mars, a stunning step toward finding signs of ancient life on the Red Planet.
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