Discovery details

On July 21, the Perseverance rover collected a sample of an arrowhead-shaped rock in the bed of the Neretva Vallis River, which was formed long ago when water flowed into the Jezero crater. The science team operating Perseverance has nicknamed the rock “Chevaya Falls.” Using the rover’s SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals) instrument, the team performed multiple scans of the rock. These scans revealed striking colorful flecks of iron and phosphate, which indicate certain chemical reactions that on Earth are often associated with the fossilized record of microbial life beneath the surface.

David Flannery, an astrobiologist from the Queensland University of Technology and a member of the Perseverance science team, noted: “These spots are a big surprise. On Earth, these kinds of features in rocks are often associated with the fossilized record of microbes living in the subsurface.” However, he stressed that this discovery does not constitute direct evidence of past microbial life on Mars.

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Implications and next steps

The presence of iron and phosphate in the rock, along with organic chemicals, suggests a plausible energy source for microbes and is consistent with the possibility of ancient life. However, confirming extraterrestrial life requires a rigorous seven-step process known as the Confidence of Life Detection (CoLD) scale. Detecting these specks is just the first step. Scientists must still rule out nonbiological possibilities and identify other signals to confirm the presence of life beyond our world.

NASA’s Perseverance rover has exhausted its instrumentation studying Chevaya Falls. “We’ve blasted that rock with lasers and X-rays and taken images of it literally day and night from almost every angle,” said Ken Farley, Perseverance project scientist. “From a scientific perspective, Perseverance has nothing more to offer.”

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The discovery of Chevaya Falls gives a boost to NASA’s efforts to plan a Mars Sample Return mission. Although previous plans were deemed too expensive, the space agency is investigating alternative, cost-effective ways to return Martian samples to Earth for detailed analysis. Rocks like Chevaya Falls underscore the importance of such missions, because studying them in advanced laboratories on Earth could yield important insights into the potential for ancient life on Mars.

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