NASA issues Mars breakthrough at finding signs of life on red planet | World | News


NASA’s Mars rover, Perseverance, has uncovered “possible” signs of life billions of years ago on the Red Planet.

The rover spied what the agency has term an “arrowhead-shaped” rock with what appear to be veins running through it.

Scientists say the rock featured a chemical signatures and structures formed by microbial life.

The rock, which is 3.2 ft by two ft, has been named after one of the Grand Canyon waterfalls, Cheyava Falls.

Perseverance project scientist Ken Farley said: “Cheyava Falls is the most puzzling, complex, and potentially important rock yet investigated by Perseverance.

“On the one hand, we have our first compelling detection of organic material, distinctive colorful spots indicative of chemical reactions that microbial life could use as an energy source, and clear evidence that water — necessary for life — once passed through the rock.

“On the other hand, we have been unable to determine exactly how the rock formed and to what extent nearby rocks may have heated Cheyava Falls and contributed to these features.”

Between the veins on the rock scientists found material with a reddish color suggesting the presence of hematite, one of the minerals that gives Mars its well-known burnt orange colour.

Analysing these gaps revealed “dozens of irregularly shaped, millimeter-size off-white splotches, each ringed with black material, akin to leopard spots,” said NASA.

David Flannery, an astrobiologist and member of the Perseverance science team, said: “These spots are a big surprise.

“On Earth, these types of features in rocks are often associated with the fossilized record of microbes living in the subsurface.”



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