Colorful, speckled rocks found on the surface of Mars have offered among the most encouraging evidence yet of ancient life on our neighbouring planet, scientists at Nasa announced Wednesday.
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The Perseverance Mars rover collected the “Sapphire Canyon” rock samples in July 2024 from what’s thought to be an ancient lake bed, and its poppyseed and leopard-esque spots pointed to potential chemical reactions that piqued the interest of researchers.
If the features resulted from microbial activity that created minerals in the way they do on Earth – well, that might point to life on Mars.
It was far too soon for scientists to say that definitively, but the findings, which were detailed in research published in the journal Nature, were alluring.
“We put it out to our scientific friends to pressure test it, to analyse it, and go, did we get this right? Do we think this is signs of ancient life on Mars?” Nasa’s acting administrator Sean Duffy said at a news conference.
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