Scientists could soon reveal details about life on Mars

By Dean Murray

Space scientists may be about to reveal details about life on Mars.

NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover found a mysterious rock in July 2024, which may hold evidence of Martian life.

Scientists are excited by the sample nicknamed Sapphire Canyon, as its distinctive spotted pattern suggests it may have organic origins.

NASA will reveal its findings on a special media conference on Wednesday, Sept. 10.

Researchers say the rock has small black spots they call poppy seeds and also larger spots dubbed leopard spots. On Earth, similar spotting occurs in sedimentary rocks where chemical reactions involving minerals like hematite turn red rock white, releasing iron and phosphate.

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Those chemical reactions can provide energy sources for microbes, so such features on Earth are often linked to microbial activity. The presence of these spots might suggest Mars’ ancient environment might have had conditions that could sustain microbial life or preserve its signs.

Dr. Morgan Cable, a research scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said: "Our first reaction on the team when we saw this rock was like, Whoa, what is that? What could have caused that?

"This is the only place we've found on Mars so far where we have chemical evidence that chemical reactions associated with life could have been happening as well as organic molecules.

"The SHERLOC instrument detected an organic signature, so both of those together in the same rock is really compelling because these similar types of features, when we find them on earth, oftentimes they're associated with biology, with microbes. And so those pieces of evidence combined together, we believe, justify calling it a potential biosignature.

"I would describe the Sapphire Canyon sample as mysterious because we see these signatures that tell us chemistry has happened, potentially involving organics.

"But what does that mean? Could life have been involved? Or something that didn't involve life at all? We're not going to know until we bring that sample back and do some more measurements."

NASA’s Mars Sample Return mission is currently under revision due to high costs and complexity, but the agency remains committed to retrieving the samples.