NASA Rover Detects Potential Signatures of Ancient Microbial Life On Mars

NASA’s Perseverance rover has detected complex organic carbon in ancient Martian mudstones. The measurements were taken by the rover’s Sherloc instrument and the organic carbon that was identified was from the Bright Angel outcrop, “a dried-up river that carried water into the planet’s Jezero crater billions of years ago,” notes The Guardian. From the report: The form of carbon detected, known as macromolecular carbon or MMC, can originate from living organisms. Geological processes can also produce the material, meaning its detection does not amount to proof of past Martian life. Dr Ashley Murphy at the Planetary Science Institute in Arizona said MMC can be found in different settings and types of rocks. “It may originate from biological sources such as fossilized organic matter found in microbial mats and coal,” she said, but could also form in reactions between rocks and water or arrive on impacting meteorites.

The mudstone rocks from the Bright Angel outcrop caused a stir in 2024 when the Perseverance rover discovered intriguing surface spots and nodules that resemble features produced by fossilized microbes on Earth. When the scientific details were published last year, Sean Duffy, the former acting head of Nasa, said: “This very well could be the clearest sign of life that we’ve ever found on Mars.” […] The discovery means Nasa rovers have now found organic-bearing mudstones more than 2,000 miles apart on Mars. The others were reported by the Curiosity rover which is exploring the planet’s Gale crater. It “indicates that the habitability of Mars, and the availability of organics, may have been widespread across the planet billions of years ago,” the authors write in Science Advances.