Rocks found on the surface of Mars They offer one of the most encouraging evidence until the date of the existence of ancient life on that neighboring planet of the Landscientists from the POT.
The Robotic Explorer Perseverance collected in July 2024 the exhibition called “Zafiro Canyon” in what is believed is an ancient Lake bed. The rock stains, shaped like poppy seeds and leopard skin, pointed to possible chemical reactions that aroused the interest of the researchers.
If the characteristics were the result of the microbial activity that created minerals, as is the case on Earth, this could indicate the existence of life on Mars.
Although it is too early to be able to definitely affirm it, the findings, detailed in an investigation published in Nature magazine, are very promising, according to scientists.
“They are like fossil remains, remains of a meal, and perhaps that food has been excreted by a microbe. And that is what we observe in this exhibition,” Nicky Fox, administrator of the NASA scientific missions direction, told journalists.
When this type of mineral and textured characteristics are formed in the sediments of the Earth, they are usually the product of reactions between mud and organic matter, explained the main author of the study, Joel Hurowitz, which could be a sign of life.
Specifically, the instruments of persecverance identified the lively and greigita minerals. On Earth, the Vivianita is often found in sediments, bosks and around decomposition organic matter. Some forms of microbial life on Earth can produce Greigita.
“But there are non -biological ways to produce these characteristics that we cannot completely rule out based on the data collected,” Hurowitz added.
Several explorers travel Mars – peseverance has been there since 2021 – looking for signs of life that could have existed millions or billions of years ago, when it was believed that the planet was more habitable.
The evidence of ancient rivers and lakes on the surface of the planet would indicate that water once flowed there.