NASA discovers 'clearest sign of life' yet in stones on Mars Doyle Rice, USA TODAY September 11, 2025 at 4:57 AM 0 Martian mudstones contain features that NASA says are the "clearest sign of life" yet on Mars, according to new findings from NASA's Perseverance rover released Sept. 10.
- - NASA discovers 'clearest sign of life' yet in stones on Mars
Doyle Rice, USA TODAY September 11, 2025 at 4:57 AM
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Martian mudstones contain features that NASA says are the "clearest sign of life" yet on Mars, according to new findings from NASA's Perseverance rover released Sept. 10.
Specifically, the stones show signs of possible ancient microbial life, according to scientists, though the minerals spotted in the sample also can form through "nonbiological processes."
The findings, detailed in a study published in the British journal Nature, indicate that these mudstones experienced chemical processes that left behind colorful, enigmatic textures in the rock that represent potential signatures of life.
Not fossilized life on Mars
The research team does not claim to have found some form of fossilized life on Mars, but they do believe the rocks contain features that could have been formed by life, a potential "biosignature," according to a statement from Stony Brook University, which led the study.
"A potential biosignature is any characteristic, element, molecule, substance, or feature that could have been formed by past biological life, but which also could have formed in the absence of life," explains Stony Brook.
1 / 45Space photos: Stunning images you have to seeNASA and SpaceX teamed up to launch a Dragon spacecraft packed with science investigations, supplies and equipment to the International Space Station. Launch was at 2:45 a.m. EDT Sunday, August 24, 2025 from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.'Clearest sign of life'
Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy told a news conference that the U.S. space agency's scientists examined the data for a year and concluded that "we can't find another explanation, so this very well could be the clearest sign of life that we've ever found on Mars – which is incredibly exciting."
A reddish rock nicknamed "Cheyava Falls", with features resembling leopard spots was discovered by NASA's Perseverance rover in Mars' Jezero Crater in July 2024, in this handout photograph released on September 10, 2025.A great record
"These mudstones provide information about Mars' surface environmental conditions at a time hundreds of millions of years after the planet formed, and thus they can be seen as a great record of the planetary environment and habitability during that period," said Joel Hurowitz, associate professor in the Department of Geosciences at Stony Brook, who has been involved with Mars rover research since he was a graduate student at the university in 2004.
Jezero crater selected for Perseverance
Since landing in 2021, the rover has been exploring Jezero Crater, an area in the planet's northern hemisphere that once was flooded with water and home to an ancient lake basin.
The Jezero Crater was selected as the rover's landing site due to its geological diversity and evidence of past water activity.
What would Mars look like in daylight? 'Enhanced' photo from Perseverance offers a look
Perserverance has explored igneous and sedimentary terrains, including the Bright Angel formation — a collection of mudstones exposed in Neretva Vallis. These rocks are of particular interest because they contain carbon matter and mineral assemblages that may have formed under habitable conditions, but this is yet to be confirmed.
Next steps
"We will need to conduct broader research into both living and non-living processes that will help us to better understand the conditions under which the collection of minerals and organic phases in the Bright Angel formation were formed," Hurowitz concluded.
Contributing: Reuters
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NASA finds 'clearest sign of life' yet on Mars
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