NASA: Perseverance Mars Rover Discovered Potential Evidence of Life on Mars

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced a stunning development with the Perseverance Mars rover that has countless scientists and space fans teeming with excitement. The stunning planet Mars boasts many areas to explore, and on an ancient dry riverbed, a fabulous discovery was made.

If you have not yet heard about Perseverance's latest discovery, and you are a fan of space and the possibilities that may lie beyond our planet, you are in for quite a treat.

Below, we explore the latest NASA news that has so many people excited about the possibility of life that once existed on the planet Mars. Continue reading to learn more about NASA, the latest discovery by Perseverance, and more.

According to a Sept. 10 news release by NASA, "A sample collected by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover from an ancient dry riverbed in Jezero Crater could preserve evidence of ancient microbial life. Taken from a rock named 'Cheyava Falls' last year, the sample, called 'Sapphire Canyon,' contains potential biosignatures."

The findings were published in a paper entitled "Redox-driven mineral and organic associations in Jezero Crater, Mars" in the journal Nature.

“This finding by Perseverance, launched under President Trump in his first term, is the closest we have ever come to discovering life on Mars," acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy said in the news release. "The identification of a potential biosignature on the Red Planet is a groundbreaking discovery, and one that will advance our understanding of Mars. NASA’s commitment to conducting Gold Standard Science will continue as we pursue our goal of putting American boots on Mars’ rocky soil.”

According to the NASA Mars account on X (formerly Twitter), the discovery comes after a year of "scientific scrutiny." The rock sample collected by the Mars rover is "the best candidate so far to provide evidence of ancient microbial life on Mars," per the Tweet.

"The Perseverance team discovered the rock formation in an ancient, now-dry riverbed in Jezero Crater, and instruments revealed that it's composed of clay and silt. On Earth, these are excellent preservers of past microbial life."

According to Perseverance scientist Joel Hurowitz, the lead author of the paper published in Nature, "The combination of chemical compounds we found in the Bright Angel formation could have been a rich source of energy for microbial metabolisms. But just because we saw all these compelling chemical signatures in the data didn’t mean we had a potential biosignature. We needed to analyze what that data could mean.”

After Perseverance discovered the rock formation, NASA scientists happened upon something that piqued their curiosity, necessitating further investigation: colorful spots on the rock that Perseverance found.

"The spots on the rock could have been left behind by microbial life if it had used the raw ingredients, the organic carbon, sulfur, and phosphorus, in the rock as an energy source," according to the NASA news release.

With all of that said, does this mean life existed on Mars at some point in the planet's history? “Astrobiological claims, particularly those related to the potential discovery of past extraterrestrial life, require extraordinary evidence,” Perseverance’s project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Katie Stack Morgan, said.

And, indeed, it appears Perseverance and a team of NASA scientists have happened upon some pretty extraordinary evidence.