The American space agency's spacecraft Perseverance has been on Mars since February 2021, where it collects samples in search of signs of life. A stone now puts the question on its edge, reports The New York Times.
Microorganisms so small that they cannot be seen with the naked eye are found everywhere on Earth – in nature, in the air and in the soil. On stones, the microscopic life forms leave indelible signs in the form of minerals.
Minerals that have now been discovered by NASA – on a stone created several billion years ago by bottom sediment from what was once a flowing river.
These observations are, for me, very convincing, says Joel Hurowitz, professor of geology and part of a research team connected to Perseverance, to The New York Times.
According to Hurowitz, he has been working with NASA's mission to Mars for over twenty years and never felt such confidence in possible signs of life on a stone from the planet.
This could very well be the clearest sign of life that we have ever found on Mars, says Sean Duffy, US Secretary of Transportation and acting head of NASA, at a press conference on Wednesday.
The findings, which are presented in a study in Nature, should not be seen as a definitive answer, emphasizes NASA. The minerals discovered may be the result of chemical reactions that did not involve living organisms.
