NASA rover finds impressive rock samples - evidence of life on Mars

Created: 09/19/2022, 17:36

By: Patrick Freiwah

Groundbreaking discovery on Mars: The research vehicle "Perseverance" detects remnants of life on the "red planet".

NASA is over the moon.

Pasadena - The Mars rover called "Perseverance" has been on the planet Mars for more than a year and a half.

Now the research device has provided another meaningful clue (which has already been discovered there):

The rock material now detected and removed by the Mars rover has the highest concentration of organic molecules in the course of the research mission to date (as of September 19, 2022).

This is a carbon and hydrogen compound - a basic requirement for the emergence of (terrestrial) life.

The samples taken from the "Perseverance" are spectacular, according to a statement from NASA.

Planet Mars: NASA reports next spectacular find - suspected life

The findings come from samples from the "Jezero crater": a former lake on the planet Mars, into which a large river once flowed.

This discovery already delighted astrologers and space fans around the world at the end of 2021.

According to the current state of science, however, the water cycle perceived there is already 3.5 billion years ago!

And the crater has long since dried up.

Mars rover "Perseverance" on its mission on the "red planet".

© IMAGO/NASA/JPL-Caltech

In addition, according to the report, the "Perseverance" discovered volcanic rock on the floor of the crater, which is about 45 kilometers wide, which speaks for an eruption a long time ago.

The scientists dubbed the stone, which contains a particularly large amount of organic material, "Wildcat Ridge" because of the resemblance to a cat's back.

Life on Mars?

Perseverance samples must be brought to Earth

However, why the promising finding is not yet definitive proof of a life form on the “red planet”: There are also inorganic processes that produce the molecules.

According to NASA scientist Ken Farley, this is not possible despite the "powerful instruments" on board the "Perseverance", because the samples first have to be brought to earth in order to be able to carry out further investigations.

NASA recently published an impressive video on the Internet that shows the "Perseverance" exploring the crater:

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And when is the time for the return of the rock samples?

Patience is required here: according to the plans, an unmanned NASA mission (“Mars Sample Return”) will not be sent into space until 2031 to transport the material collected by the research vehicle to our home planet.

After an extensive "treasure hunt" it is then examined whether there was actually life on Mars - or possibly still is.

Incidentally, what fuels the hope for life residues in the rock samples, according to Farley, is the fact that the matter was found in a sedimentary rock - and such finds on Earth often carry fossils, according to the project scientist from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

However, another major power is anything but idle when it comes to space research: Chinese researchers have found a previously unknown mineral in a rock sample from the moon.