{"id":128571,"date":"2025-09-10T22:30:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T22:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/128571\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T22:30:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T22:30:08","slug":"leopard-spots-found-on-rock-on-mars-are-clearest-sign-life-once-existed-on-red-planet-nasa-says-science-climate-tech-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/128571\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Leopard spots’ found on rock on Mars are clearest sign life once existed on red planet, NASA says | Science, Climate & Tech News"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Leopard spots” found on a rock on Mars contain the clearest signs yet that life once existed on the red planet, NASA has announced.<\/p>\n

The space agency said analysis of the unusual markings by the Perseverance rover has revealed they contain minerals that on Earth can be a byproduct of microbes.<\/p>\n

Scientists can’t rule out that the spots were caused by natural geological processes.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Image:
\n The leopard spot-like marking on the rock. Pic: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/MSSS<\/p>\n

But Nicky Fox, associate director of NASA’s science mission directorate, said after a year of “pressure testing” the evidence, it still points to a biological origin.<\/p>\n

“This finding by our incredible Perseverance rover is the closest we’ve actually come to discovering ancient life on Mars<\/a>,” she said. “We’re really excited about that.<\/p>\n

“But it’s a signature, a leftover sign. It’s not life itself.”<\/p>\n

The tantalising evidence was laid down in the rocks more than 3 billion years ago.<\/p>\n

At the time Mars was covered in lakes, rivers and perhaps even oceans. The surface water vaporised into space when the planet lost its atmosphere long ago.<\/p>\n

The Perseverance rover has been exploring an ancient river delta in the Jezero Crater since it landed in February 2021.<\/p>\n

The 3m-long robot has been taking detailed images of the surface, collecting rock samples and analysing material with onboard instruments.<\/p>\n

In July last year it came across a rock NASA named Cheyava Falls that lay in a canyon once carved out by water.<\/p>\n

Comprehensive analysis of the leopard spot-like markings on the rock, and others that resemble tiny black poppy seeds, has revealed minerals containing iron, phosphorus and sulphur.<\/p>\n

Evidence points to these being caused by chemical processes associated with microbial life.<\/p>\n

The only way of being sure is to bring the samples back to Earth.<\/p>\n

Read more from Sky News:
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But Donald Trump’s cuts to NASA’s budget have forced a rethink of its plans to launch a joint retrieval mission with the European Space Agency.<\/p>\n

Sean Duffy, the acting NASA chief, said: “I’ve been given an ask for spending a little less money. I think we can do that. I know we can do that.<\/p>\n

“But I’ve told the team at NASA, if we don’t have the resources for the right missions or the right people, I will go to the president, I’ll go to Congress, I’ll ask for more money.<\/p>\n

“But I feel pretty confident that with the money that we’ve been given, in the president’s budget, we can accomplish our mission.”<\/p>\n

If further scientific analysis does confirm microbes once existed on Mars, then we’ll know life on Earth isn’t unique.<\/p>\n

According to NASA every star in the night sky has an average of one planet orbiting around it.<\/p>\n

And with the right conditions, some could also be home to life. Perhaps even intelligent alien life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“Leopard spots” found on a rock on Mars contain the clearest signs yet that life once existed on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-128571","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-space","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}