{"id":607418,"date":"2026-09-06T06:38:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T06:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/607418\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T06:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T06:38:15","slug":"the-case-for-life-on-mars-just-got-stronger-a-nasa-rover-has-found-extensive-organic-carbon-in-ancient-river-rocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/607418\/","title":{"rendered":"The case for life on Mars just got stronger. A NASA rover has found extensive organic carbon in ancient river rocks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Scientists have confirmed one of the most extensive detections yet of complex organic carbon on Mars, found in mudstones in an ancient dried\u2011up river channel in Jezero Crater.<\/p>\n<p>The findings, published in Science Advances, are based on hundreds of detections of macromolecular carbon (MMC) \u2013 large, tangled networks of carbon atoms \u2013 within two rocks sampled by NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover.<\/p>\n<p>The rocks are part of the Bright Angel formation in Neretva Vallis, a channel that once fed a lake inside Jezero.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s thought to be the only detection of macromolecular carbon on a natural rock surface on Mars.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"849\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/mars-lost-moon.jpg\" alt=\"Did a moon 15 times more massive than Phobos once create ocean tides on Mars?. Ilustration: moon: Mark Garlick; Mars: DottedHippo, Getty\" class=\"wp-image-189317\"\/>Did a moon 15 times more massive than Phobos once create ocean tides on Mars?. Ilustration: moon: Mark Garlick; Mars: DottedHippo, Getty<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"715\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/perseverance-witch-hazel-hill.jpg\" alt=\"NASA Perseverance rover selfie at Witch Hazel Hill on Jezero Crater\u2019s rim, 10 May 2025. Visible is a borehole made when Perseverance collected a sample that could one day be returned to Earth. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/MSSS\" class=\"wp-image-190855\"\/>NASA Perseverance rover selfie at Witch Hazel Hill on Jezero Crater\u2019s rim, 10 May 2025. Visible is a borehole made when Perseverance collected a sample that could one day be returned to Earth. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/MSSS<\/p>\n<p>Using the SHERLOC instrument \u2013 which employs an ultraviolet laser and fluorescence spectroscopy to probe the rocks \u2013 the team found complex carbon in both sedimentary minerals and later-forming carbonate and sulphate minerals.<\/p>\n<p>This suggests the carbon was incorporated into the rock during at least two stages of its history: when sediment was first deposited and later when groundwater altered them.<\/p>\n<p>However, the observations don\u2019t reveal whether the molecules originated through biological or non-biological processes.<\/p>\n<p>The discovery builds on excitement generated when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/news\/nasa-perseverance-cheyava-falls-biosignatures\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Perseverance identified distinctive \u2018leopard spots\u2019<\/a> on rocks at the same site in 2024.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"881\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/mars-rock-leopard-spots.jpg\" alt=\"NASA\u2019s Perseverance Mars rover captured this image of a rock with 'leopard spots' nicknamed Cheyava Falls on 18 July 2024. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\" class=\"wp-image-168778\"\/>NASA\u2019s Perseverance Mars rover captured this image of a rock with &#8216;leopard spots&#8217; nicknamed Cheyava Falls on 18 July 2024. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/p>\n<p>On Earth, such millimetre-sized spots can be created by chemical and mineral reactions associated with microbial activity, although alternative abiotic explanations remain possible.<\/p>\n<p>Finding complex organic carbon in the same ancient river deposits adds another piece to the puzzle.<\/p>\n<p>Organic molecules are the building blocks of life, but they could also be present through entirely non-biological processes, including hydrothermal reactions or delivery by meteorites.<\/p>\n<p>The results strengthen the scientific case for returning Perseverance\u2019s cached samples to Earth.<\/p>\n<p>The rover has already sealed more than two dozen samples for retrieval by a future Mars sample-return mission.<\/p>\n<p>Laboratory analysis on Earth could determine the precise chemical structures of the organic compounds \u2013 measurements beyond the capabilities of the rover itself \u2013 and help establish whether they record ancient geological activity, prebiotic chemistry or, potentially, evidence of past microbial life.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/mars-holden-crater.jpg\" alt=\"A view of Holden Basin on Mars, from inside the once water-filled reservoir. Image generated using data captured by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft. Credit: ESA\/DLR\/FU Berlin\" class=\"wp-image-175784\"\/>A view of Holden Basin on Mars, from inside the once water-filled reservoir. Image generated using data captured by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on the European Space Agency&#8217;s Mars Express spacecraft. Credit: ESA\/DLR\/FU Berlin<br \/>\nIs this really a sign of life on Mars?<\/p>\n<p>Words: Chris Lintott<\/p>\n<p>There are now a host of things \u2013 from chemicals like those found here to \u2018leopard spot\u2019 rocks \u2013 that, if seen on Earth, would scream \u2018life\u2019 to a geologist: if you see something life does, you can conclude life did it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But on Mars, the opposite is true. When we see signs of biology, we need to set about ruling out every other possibility.<\/p>\n<p>The organic molecules might have come from life or from geological process \u2013 or arrived on a meteorite.<\/p>\n<p>Learning to tell the difference is the challenge facing astrobiologists studying everything from the surface of Mars to the fountains of Enceladus \u2013 and it\u2019s not going to be easy.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scientists have confirmed one of the most extensive detections yet of complex organic carbon on Mars, found in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[85,46,141],"class_list":["post-607418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}