NASA discovers most convincing traces of life on Mars

NASA has just announced a shocking discovery: rock samples at Jezero Crater contain possible signs of ancient microorganisms, considered the clearest evidence of life on Mars.

A selfie taken by the Perseverance rover in July 2024 in the Bright Angel area of ​​Jezero crater, with a rock named “Cheyava Falls” - Photo: NASA

In a study published in the journal Nature on September 10, NASA scientists showed that rock structures collected by the Perseverance rover at Jezero Crater contain the most convincing evidence yet of the possibility of ancient life on Mars. This is considered the closest step in the journey to solving the question: Did life ever exist on the Red Planet?

The Bright Angel region, located on the western edge of Jezero Crater, was explored by Perseverance in 2024. Here, the rover discovered the Cheyava Falls rock formation, which is marked by small circular spots called "leopard spots" and tiny green dots "poppy seeds" hidden in the red mud.

Detailed analysis showed that they contained the minerals vivianite (iron phosphate) and greigite (iron sulfide), compounds commonly associated with microbial metabolic activity on Earth.

What’s remarkable, according to the new research, is that the formation of these minerals appears to involve a redox reaction. On Earth, these reactions are typically triggered by microorganisms that consume organic matter and produce energy, leaving minerals as a byproduct, similar to how organisms eat food and excrete waste.

In the Cheyava Falls massif, Perseverance drilled a core sample from Sapphire Canyon, about the length of an adult’s pinky finger. Layers of “leopard spots” in the core sample revealed dark iron phosphates on the outer edge, while the inner core was rich in iron sulfide minerals.

This is the first time that chemical processes consistent with biological origin have been observed on Mars, although it is not absolute proof.

The Cheyava Falls rock was found in an ancient riverbed in the Bright Angel region of Jezero Crater on Mars. The “leopard spots” on its surface made headlines in 2024. Now, a core sample collected by Perseverance has revealed more about the rock’s chemical composition. Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

The study suggests that Jezero was not only an ancient riverbed or lake, but may have also been home to microbial life. If confirmed, this would mean that Earth and Mars once hosted microbial communities that used the same energy mechanisms in the distant past, revealing a universal evolutionary pattern for life in the universe.

Scientists admit, however, that more evidence is needed. Similar chemical reactions can occur without life, for example through volcanoes. But according to the available data, the Bright Angel region has never experienced the high temperatures required for this scenario.

To be sure, Martian rock samples must be returned to Earth for analysis with more advanced equipment. However, NASA’s Mars Sample Return mission is facing budget constraints. In parallel, the European Space Agency plans to launch the Rosalind Franklin rover in 2028 to drill deeper beneath the Martian surface, while China also has a sample return mission planned for the same time.

Perseverance has collected a total of 30 rock and soil samples since landing on Jezero in 2021, with Sapphire Canyon now considered the most promising. Each new discovery not only brings us closer to answering the question of whether life existed on Mars, but also helps expand our understanding of the possibility of life on other planets.

If Cheyava Falls and Bright Angel do indeed contain biosignatures, it would be a revolutionary discovery, confirming that Mars once hosted microbial life and suggesting that life in the universe may be more common than previously thought.

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MINH HAI

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nasa-phat-hien-dau-vet-thuet-phuc-nhat-ve-su-song-tren-sao-hoa-20250911074610923.htm