This image of a region within Mars’s Jezero Crater, known as Cheyava Falls, was taken with NASA’s Perseverance Rover’s Mastcam-Z camera. The drillhole, at left, shows where a sample was collected on July 21, 2024, while the image was taken two days later. There is some suggestive evidence that life processes may have created some of the features discovered within this rock, but the evidence is not conclusive. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)
The red planet, Mars, may once have been teeming with life, just as Earth is today. Finding “organics” on Mars, however, doesn’t mean life.
The rock shown here, discovered by NASA’s Perseverance Rover on Mars, contains leopard-like spots on a reddish rock located in Mars’s Jezero Crater in July of 2024. Sample analysis indicated organic molecules and reduction/oxidation reactions, which could serve as a potential biosignature. However, abiotic pathways to the production of these characteristics cannot be ruled out as of yet. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)
An unusual rock contained organic, carbon-bearing minerals.
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This figure shows an aerial view of the path of exploration undertaken by NASA’s Perseverance Rover, including the important Bright Angel and Masonic Temple regions, which includes some unusual rock formations that warranted further investigation. Below, the view of that same region is shown in a NASA Perseverance panoramic view. (Credit: J.A. Hurowitz et al., Nature, 2025)
Reaction fronts were enriched with iron, phosphorous, and sulfurous compounds.
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This four-panel graph shows the reduction/oxidation processes that occurred in the Bright Angel and Masonic Temple regions within Jezero Crater, as explored by NASA’s Perseverance Rover. The discovery of organic molecules and these sets of reactions hint at, but do not prove, the possible presence of ancient biological activity on Mars. (Credit: J.A. Hurowitz et al., Nature, 2025)
