New findings by NASA Mars rover provide strongest hints yet of potential signs of ancient life

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL Fla AP NASA s Mars rover Perseverance has uncovered rocks in a dry river channel that may hold probable signs of ancient microscopic life scientists stated Wednesday They stressed that in-depth analysis is needed of the sample gathered there by Perseverance ideally in labs on Earth before reaching any conclusions Roaming Mars since the rover cannot directly detect life Instead it carries a drill to penetrate rocks and tubes to hold the samples gathered from places judged largest part suitable for hosting life billions of years ago The samples are awaiting retrieval to Earth an ambitious plan that s on hold as NASA seeks cheaper quicker options Calling it an exciting discovery a pair of scientists who were not involved in the examination SETI Institute s Janice Bishop and the University of Massachusetts Amherst s Mario Parente were quick to point out that non-biological processes could be responsible That s part of the reason why we can t go so far as to say A-ha this is proof positive of life lead researcher Joel Hurowitz of Stony Brook University recounted The Associated Press All we can say is one of the accomplishable explanations is microbial life but there could be other strategies to make this set of features that we see This image provided by NASA shows the -degree view of a region on Mars called Bright Angel captured on June by NASA s Perseverance Mars rover and is made up of individual images that were stitched together after being sent back to Earth NASA via AP Either way Hurowitz stated it s the best the majority compelling candidate yet in the rover s search for anticipated signs of long-ago life It was the th sample gathered the tally is now up to with six more to go It would be amazing to be able to demonstrate conclusively that these features were formed by something that was alive on another planet billions of years ago right Hurowitz stated But even if that s not the circumstance it s a valuable lesson in all of the means that nature can conspire to fool us Collected last summer the sample is from reddish clay-rich mudstones in Neretva Vallis a river channel that once carried water into Jezero Crater This outcrop of sedimentary rock known as the Bright Angel formation was surveyed by Perseverance s science instruments before the drill came out Related Articles Scientists are baffled by a powerful and long-lasting gamma ray explosion outside our galaxy Thousands of newborn stars dazzle in the latest snapshot by NASA s Webb Space Telescope Want to work for National Weather Facility Be ready to explain how you agree with Trump Scientists give harsh grades to Trump administration work aimed at undoing a key environment finding Another US military mini shuttle launches on a secret mission Along with organic carbon a building block of life Hurowitz and his crew determined minuscule specks dubbed poppy seeds and leopard spots that were enriched with iron phosphate and iron sulfide On Earth these chemical compounds are the byproducts when microorganisms chomp down on organic matter The findings appeared in the journal Nature Ten of the titanium sample tubes were placed on the Martian surface a limited years ago as a backup to the rest aboard the rover the main target in NASA s still fuzzy return mission When Perseverance launched in NASA expected the samples back on Earth by the early s But that date slipped into the s as costs swelled to billion stalling the retrieval effort Until the samples are transported off of Mars by robotic spacecraft or astronauts scientists will have to rely on Earthly stand-ins and lab experiments to evaluate the feasibility of ancient Martian life according to Hurowitz On Earth microorganisms commonly interact with minerals in Antarctic lakes There is no evidence of microbes on Mars in contemporary times but if any had been present on ancient Mars they too might have reduced sulfate minerals to form sulfides in such a lake at Jezero Crater Bishop and Parente wrote in an accompanying editorial The Associated Press Strength and Science Department receives sponsorship from the Howard Hughes Healthcare Institute s Department of Science Schooling and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation The AP is solely responsible for all content