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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 <keyword id="47638" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mars" source="Orion">Mars</keyword>. NASA’s <keyword id="19945326" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Perseverance-rover" source="keywords">Perseverance rover</keyword> has stumbled upon a vein-filled rock that could be a time capsule from an ancient Martian era. It has been nicknamed ‘<keyword id="22551289" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Cheyava-Falls" source="keywords">Cheyava Falls</keyword>’, 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. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Organic compounds, leopard spots and olivine crystals" comment="subhead" text="Organic compounds, leopard spots and olivine crystals">Organic compounds, <keyword id="22554265" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="leopard-spots" source="keywords">leopard spots</keyword> and <keyword id="22554266" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="olivine-crystals" source="keywords">olivine crystals</keyword></cmsannotation> 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 &amp; Luminescence for Organics &amp; 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. <div type="image" title="Mars leopard spots" msid="112035966" hostid="261" sizebytes="108566" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;An annotated version of the image of “Cheyava Falls” indicates the markings akin to leopard spots and the olivine in the rock. The image was captured by the WATSON instrument on NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover on July 18.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> 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. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="111898966" title="Freaky finding: NASA&amp;#39;s Curiosity rover has found something on Mars that shouldn’t have existed there!" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>“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.

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

<ul class="summary-list"><li>NASA's Perseverance rover has found potential evidence of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-mars-rover-landing-jezero-crater-search-for-alien-life-2021-2">ancient microbial life on Mars</a>.</li><li>Scientists must bring the rock to Earth for further study, but three key features make it promising.</li></ul>NASA has snagged a chunk of rock on Mars that could someday prove to be <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-nasa-could-tell-us-aliens-are-real-2023-2">the first clear evidence of alien life</a>.To be clear, NASA is not declaring that it's discovered Martian life. Rather, its <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-perseverance-rover-first-mars-sample-mysteriously-missing-2021-8">Perseverance rover has drilled a sample from a rock</a> with attributes that could have come from ancient microbial activity, the agency announced Thursday.To confirm their suspicions, scientists would need to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-asks-help-retrieving-perseverance-mars-samples-alien-life-2024-4">bring the rock sample to Earth</a> and study it in more detail."This is exactly the kind of sample that we wanted to find," Katie Stack Morgan, a lead scientist on the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-from-nasa-perseverance-mars-rover-2021-2">Perseverance mission</a>, told Business Insider.<h2 id="8f9afd20-4848-4691-a11e-024987bef6aa">3 key features could point to alien life</h2><div type="image" title="reddish rock on mars with a drill hole surrounded by dirt beside a patch of white dust" height="3502" width="8192" msid="112054808" hostid="261" sizebytes="2623576"></div>The rock, nicknamed Cheyava Falls, has three critical features:<ul><li>First, white veins of calcium sulfate are clear evidence that water once ran through it.</li><li>Second, the rock tested positive for organic compounds, which are the carbon-based building blocks of life, as we know it.</li><li>Third, it's speckled with tiny "leopard spots" that point to chemical reactions that are associated with microbial life here on Earth.</li></ul><div type="image" title="rocky mars ground with red strip in the middle speckled with off-white leopard spots with black outlines" height="1200" width="1648" msid="112054810" hostid="261" sizebytes="204828"></div>However, both the organic material and the leopard spots could have come from non-biological processes. That's why scientists need to study the sample more closely on Earth to know for sure.The rover has reached the limit of what it can learn about the rock."We're not saying there's life on Mars, but we're seeing something that is compelling as a potential biosignature," Stack Morgan said.A biosignature is any feature that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-may-have-accidentally-spread-life-to-mars-scientist-says-2021-5">points to the presence of life</a>."This is a very significant discovery," she added.It's a much-needed win for the space agency. In recent months, NASA has taken hit after hit from budget limitations and technical errors across missions.<h2 id="ffbc8916-53bf-4e09-9d46-a0a92e0c9401">NASA needs this win</h2>Earlier this year, the agency's first <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astrobotic-moon-lander-leaking-fuel-after-launch-threatening-mission-2024-1">attempt to return to the moon </a>since 1972 failed. The NASA-funded Peregrine moon mission, by the company Astrobotic suffered a fuel leak shortly after launch, forcing it to return to Earth and burn up in the atmosphere. (The next attempt, a mission by the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intuitive-machines-im-1-odysseus-moon-lunar-landing-mission-nasa-2024-2">company Intuitive Machines</a>, also funded by NASA, successfully landed on the moon.)Then, new budgeting decisions came down. NASA's budget proposal for 2025 effectively <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-chandra-xray-space-telescope-nasa-might-defund-2024-4">defunds the Chandra X-ray Observatory</a>, which is still a highly productive and functional mission.And just last week, NASA officials announced they were <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-scrapping-moon-rover-it-spent-450-million-to-build-2024-7">scrapping the VIPER moon rover</a> that the agency has already spent $450 million to build. NASA plans to disassemble it and reuse some of the parts for future moon missions.Meanwhile, two astronauts have been <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-astronauts-speak-out-boeing-starliner-spaceship-issues-space-station-2024-7">stuck on the International Space Station</a> for 51 days because the NASA-funded Boeing spaceship that carried them there is leaking helium and having thruster malfunctions.Even Perseverance wasn't spared. In April, NASA announced it was canceling its $11 billion plan to send a follow-up mission, called Mars Sample Return, to collect the rover's tubes of Martian rock and carry them back to Earth. That was the plan that could've brought scientists the Cheyava Falls rock sample.Instead, NASA is <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-helping-private-companies-build-business-moon-make-lunar-billions-2023-6">asking companies to step in</a> and propose their own cheaper, faster versions of the mission.<div type="image" title="mosaic of photos of light-saber-like sample tubes on the martian surface" height="1608" width="2860" msid="112054812" hostid="261" sizebytes="489456"></div>The Cheyava Falls rock especially needs the extra studying."This rock is also one of the most complex rocks we've seen on the surface of Mars. There is a lot going on in this rock," Stack Morgan said.<h2 id="bc7264ec-ecef-4ece-be0b-2d817095cffe">Is it aliens? Check the CoLD scale</h2>For now, this discovery is just a "step one" on the seven-step "confidence of life detection" (CoLD) scale.The CoLD scale is a rough rating of scientific confidence in any potential alien-life discovery.<div type="image" title="illustration of a line of scientists in white lab coats building a tall stepped wall of green bricks with numbers 1 through 7 going up the side of it to the top, indicating stages of confirming evidence of alien life. the illustration is labeled &quot;CoLD SCALE&quot;" height="2550" width="3300" msid="112054809" hostid="261" sizebytes="266750"></div>"We've taken us up to the start of that scale, and I think that's what the rover was sent to Mars to do," Stack Morgan said.A possible biosignature can climb to higher levels of confidence as evidence builds. For example, if scientists can confirm that known non-biological processes didn't create the leopard spots, the Cheyava Falls rock might ascend to step two or three.But they need to get the sample to Earth first. And NASA needs to figure out how to do that."We're hoping that our most recent sample can play into the conversation about whether this effort is worth it," Stack Morgan said. "And we believe that it is."

NASA just scored a badly needed win: The best potential evidence of alien life yet

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

Kunal Kambli

NASA just scored a badly needed win: The best potential evidence of alien life yet

Morgan McFall-Johnsen

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