NASA’s Perseverance Rover may have just made the most significant Martian discovery yet. It has explored oddball rocks that may hold clues to understanding some of the earliest life on the planet. These sedimentary rocks outcrop at the Bright Angel Formation, directly at the base of a canyon magnificently cut by the erosive power of river activity. They’re between 3.3 to 3.5 billion years old and formed from fine-grained mudstone. Not surprisingly, the scientific community is abuzz with excitement over these findings. The bizarre leopard spot-like markings covering the rocks have led scientists to some wild guesses about their creation.
The Perseverance Rover, which landed on Mars in early 2021. Since then, it’s been working tirelessly to investigate the Jezero Crater, a region that scientists think was once home to a lake fed by a meandering river. The rover used a suite of other complex instruments in its onboard lab to study the minerals contained in these curious rocks. The various types of data they collected were sent back to Earth for analysis.
Scientists think that the markings found throughout the rocks are minerals. These minerals could have been produced by chemical reactions associated with the activities of ancient Martian microbes. This exciting prospect has piqued the interest of innumerable scientists looking for analogs and evidence of ancient life on Mars.
“We’ve not had something like this before, so I think that’s the big deal,” – Prof Sanjeev Gupta
As a whole, these findings underscore the importance of the features that are seen in these rocks. Dr. Hurowitz suggests that one other unusual possibility might be that these weird characteristics were all produced by microbial activity. Yet, he cautions against overreaching with these findings.
“We have found features in the rocks that if you saw them on Earth could be explained by biology—by microbial process. So we’re not saying that we found life, but we’re saying that it really gives us something to chase.” – Prof Sanjeev Gupta
Perseverance obtained cores of these extraordinary rocks and deposited them in canisters on the Martian landscape. These samples are to be the objective of a future mission, which will return them to Earth for in-depth analysis. When we might see such a mission is still uncertain.
Prof Gupta expressed the urgency of retrieving these samples: “We need to see these samples back on Earth. I think for true confidence, most scientists would want to see and examine these rocks on Earth. This is one of our high-priority samples to return.”
The exploration of the Bright Angel Formation has been a great milestone in the Mars research history. This region is home to an intriguing geological history interwoven with water. The existence of water is key to knowing the environment that could have fostered life.
“This feels like the most compelling potential biosignature detection that we’ve had to date,” – Dr Hurowitz
As scientists continue to analyze the data returned by Perseverance, they remain hopeful that these discoveries could illuminate the history of life on Mars. The rover’s first findings go a long way toward a more full understanding of Martian geology. They ignite a larger appetite for exploration in search of extraterrestrial life.