US EditionNASA Says Perseverance's 'Sapphire Canyon' Sample Holds Potential Biosignature
- On July 21, 2024, NASA's Perseverance rover drilled into Cheyava Falls in Jezero Crater, Mars, and collected its 25th sample named Sapphire Canyon.
- This event followed Perseverance's exploration of Jezero Crater since February 2021, aiming to find potential signs of ancient life in clay-rich, mudstone rocks of Neretva Vallis.
- Researchers identified iron phosphate and sulfide nodules linked with organic carbon, suggesting complex low-temperature redox reactions that might indicate biological processes or non-biological chemistry.
- Lead researcher Joel Hurowitz said, "We can't go so far as to say, 'A-ha, this is proof positive of life,'" while Janice Bishop and Mario Parente highlighted the need to rule out non-biological explanations.
- NASA's Mars Sample Return program plans to retrieve these samples for Earth-based lab analysis, but budget and priorities put the mission on hold, delaying definitive life confirmation.
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265 Articles
The Nasa announced Wednesday, September 10, that it had discovered potential traces of life passed on Mars, bio-signatures, residuals of the activity of organisms in a distant past on the red planet. But many elements remain to be verified before considering that we are no longer alone in the Universe.
Last year, NASA's rover discovered a rock with "surprising" black and white spots. Now, scientists have analyzed the rock and say it is one of the strongest indications yet that there was life on the red neighboring planet.
NASA explorer Perseverance discovered rocks that may contain potential signs of ancient life on Mars.
'Leopard spots' found on rock on Mars are clearest sign life once existed on red planet, NASA says
The space agency said analysis of the unusual markings by the Perseverance rover has revealed they contain minerals that on Earth can be a byproduct of microbes. Scientists can't rule out that the spots were caused by natural geological processes.
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