Perseverance rover has found a rock with potential signs of ancient life on Mars! Scientists can’t wait to bring it back

Ever heard the phrase “Genesis in Stone,” which implies that rocks or stone formations could hold crucial information about the origins of life or the early conditions of a planet? Well, it perfectly captures the essence of NASA’s latest discovery on Mars.

NASA’s Perseverance rover has stumbled upon a vein-filled rock that could be a time capsule from an ancient Martian era. It has been nicknamed ‘Cheyava Falls’, after a waterfall in the Grand Canyon, US. This arrowhead-shaped rock could provide critical insights into the long-debated question of whether Mars once harboured microscopic life.
Organic compounds, leopard spots and olivine crystals
This rock—the rover's 22nd rock core sample—was collected on July 21 from the northern edge of Neretva Vallis. This ancient river valley, 400 metres wide, was carved by water that once rushed into Jezero Crater.

Onboard instruments have analysed Cheyava Falls and discovered qualities that suggest it could be an indicator of ancient life. The rock exhibits chemical signatures and structures that might have formed billions of years ago, back when the area was rich with running water.

The rover's SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals) instrument has performed multiple scans of Cheyava Falls, detecting organic compounds within it. However, these carbon-based molecules, considered the building blocks of life, can also form through non-biological processes.

Cheyava Falls measures 3.2 feet by 2 feet and has several intriguing characteristics. It features large white calcium sulphate veins running through it and bands of reddish material, suggesting the presence of hematite—a mineral responsible for Mars's rusty colour.

Closer inspection of these red regions revealed millimetre-sized off-white splotches, each ringed with black material resembling leopard spots. Perseverance's PIXL (Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry) determined that these black halos contain iron and phosphate. On Earth, such features in rocks often indicate a fossilised record of microbes that once lived below the surface.

These leopard spots can form in sedimentary terrestrial rocks when chemical reactions involving hematite transform the rock from red to white. These reactions can release iron and phosphate, potentially causing the black halos to appear. Such reactions can serve as an energy source for microbes, explaining the association between these features and microbial life on Earth.


The organic matter and leopard spots aren't the only intriguing aspects of Cheyava Falls. The science team was also surprised to discover millimetre-sized olivine crystals within the veins. This mineral forms from magma, suggesting the olivine might be related to rocks formed higher up the river valley rim, possibly through the crystallisation of magma.

It is important to note that scientists have been unable to determine exactly how the rock formed and to what extent nearby rocks may have contributed to its features. They may be able to dig out more information, but only after the rock sample returns to Earth.
“We have zapped that rock with lasers and X-rays and imaged it literally day and night from just about every angle imaginable. Scientifically, Perseverance has nothing more to give,” said Ken Farley, Perseverance project scientist of Caltech in Pasadena.

“To fully understand what really happened in that Martian river valley at Jezero Crater billions of years ago, we'd want to bring the Cheyava Falls sample back to Earth, so it can be studied with the powerful instruments available in laboratories.”

Until then, Cheyava Falls will continue to be an intriguing piece of the Martian puzzle, further motivating humanity to unravel the cosmic mysteries of life's origins hidden in Mars’ landscape.