Since it landed on Mars in February 2021, the Perseverance rover has been searching for signs of ancient life. It may have found it!
Last July, NASA reported that the rover identified sedimentary rocks that contain carbon—the element needed for life as we know it. Sedimentary rocks form as layers of sediment, like dirt, silt, and sand, accumulate over time. Microbes, plants, and animals often get trapped, leaving behind elements like carbon in the rock.
Perseverance is equipped with a drill and 43 sample tubes to collect specimens. But the samples will have to wait on the Martian surface until the mission to pick up the tubes arrives in 2028.
Other chemical processes could have left behind carbon. But we won’t know if the rocks contain Martian microbes until scientists can study them back on Earth.