Washington, DC – A sample collected by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover may preserve evidence of ancient microbial life, according to findings published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
The sample, called “Sapphire Canyon,” was taken last year from a rock known as “Cheyava Falls” inside Jezero Crater’s ancient river valley. According to NASA, it contains chemical compounds and mineral patterns that could be a biosignature — a potential indicator of biological processes, though more study is needed.
“This finding is the closest we have ever come to discovering life on Mars,” said acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy. “The identification of a potential biosignature on the Red Planet is a groundbreaking discovery.”
Perseverance’s instruments detected organic carbon, sulfur, oxidized iron, and phosphorous in the sedimentary rocks of the “Bright Angel” formation. These elements, common energy sources for microbes on Earth, were arranged in distinctive mineral patterns dubbed “leopard spots.” Researchers noted similarities to Earth environments where microbial life produces minerals such as vivianite and greigite.
Still, scientists cautioned that the features could also form without life through chemical reactions. “Astrobiological claims require extraordinary evidence,” said Katie Stack Morgan, Perseverance’s project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The discovery is especially notable because the rocks examined are among the youngest sedimentary formations Perseverance has studied. The finding raises the possibility that Mars could have been habitable later in its history than previously believed.
Sapphire Canyon is one of 27 rock cores collected since Perseverance landed in February 2021. Researchers say these samples will be vital for future missions aiming to bring Martian rock back to Earth.
