A Mars rock sample collected last summer shows chemical fingerprints that might be traces of past microbe activity, though non-biological explanations are still possible, according to NASA.
The Perseverance rover found the rock in July 2024. The drilled sample, nicknamed Sapphire Canyon, is now the strongest clue scientists have that life once existed on ancient Mars, according to the U.S. space agency.
NASA held a news conference Wednesday to announce that the rover’s findings have since passed peer review in the journal Nature, a key step in the scientific process to ensure the evidence is solid. Associate administrator Nicky Fox emphasized that the sample does not contain life itself but a fossilized remnant that suggests life had possibly been there.
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