NASA rover finds hint of microbial life on Mars

WASHINGTON — NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has discovered a spotty, arrowhead-shaped rock with features that could hint at microbial life billions of years ago on Mars.

During its exploration on July 21 of Neretva Vallis, an ancient river valley on Mars, the Perseverance rover encountered a captivating rock known as Cheyava Falls.

The Perseverance science team analyzed the rock using X-rays and lasers, revealing the presence of white calcium sulfate veins, a reddish middle area, and small off-white splotches on the rock.

"On Earth, these types of features in rocks are often associated with the fossilized record of microbes living in the subsurface," said David Flannery, an astrobiologist at Queensland University of Australia and a member of the Perseverance science team.

While the features observed in the rock suggest the possibility of microbial life on Mars during a warmer and wetter period, alternative explanations such as high temperatures rendering the environment uninhabitable cannot be ruled out. To confirm whether the rock indeed contains evidence of microbial life, further examinations on Earth are required.

However, the NASA Mars sample return mission has faced challenges, including budget overruns and significant delays, pushing its expected completion to the 2040s.

In light of these constraints, NASA is actively exploring alternative approaches to expedite the return of Mars samples, aiming to achieve this goal sooner and at a lower cost.

Separately, NASA and SpaceX said on Friday they plan to launch the SpaceX Crew-9 mission, a crew rotation mission to the International Space Station, no earlier than Aug 18.

The international crew will lift off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft, they said in an announcement.

Crew-9 is the ninth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the ISS under NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

Agencies Via Xinhua