The search for extraterrestrial life is as much about basic biology, geology and chemistry as it is about locating our position in the universe. The first was highlighted last month, when NASA’s Perseverance rover discovered a rock whose characteristics and chemistry could simply have been produced through ancient microbial life on Mars.
On July 21, the rover sampled an arrow-shaped rock, which scientists named Cheyava Falls, after the highest waterfall in Arizona’s Grand Canyon, and found that it contained biological compounds, which are the building blocks of life as we know it. Veins of calcium sulfate crisscross the length of the rock, the presence of which suggests that a fluid (probably water) once flowed through the rock. Finally, the rock is dotted with white dots bordered by black, in which the rover’s tools detected iron phosphate molecules. On Earth, “leopard spots” imply fossilized records of microbes. In the Martian rock at Cheyava Falls, they may just be symptoms of chemical reactions that occurred billions of years ago, which may have served as an energy source for ancient microbial life, the Perseverance science team shared in a press release. from NASA on July 25. .
Together, those features constitute a possible biosignature: intriguing signs that the rock once hosted situations generally related to microbial life. While scientists on the Perseverance team are very excited about the rock, they are under pressure not to have stumbled upon anything that could simply be fossilized organisms. It’s also worth noting that the Perseverance rover is not designed to stumble upon and verify extraterrestrial life; It involves collecting samples of clinical interest that will be returned to Earth for further examination.
Perhaps the rock of the Cheyava Falls may one day answer a question that has existed since humans took to the sky: Are we alone in the universe?
Related: NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover discovers imaginable symptoms of ancient life on the Red Planet
It’s entirely possible that the answer will land on Earth before the end of the next decade, if NASA’s long-suffering Mars pattern return program comes to fruition and delivers those valuable patterns to their homes, where scientists can read about them with a greater variety and complexity of information. tools that Perseverance can carry.
“The discovery of life beyond Earth is so profound, it’s such a big paradigm shift that we have to get it right,” said Amy Williams, an astrobiologist at the University of Florida who is part of the team. Perseverance scientist, Space. com in a recent interview. “Once you cross that line, you can’t go back. “
Space. com sat down with Williams to talk about what makes the Cheyava Falls pattern so special, the chosen explanations for extraterrestrial life that the project team is considering, and the role Mars Sample Return would play in verifying the discovery.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Space. com: What makes Cheyava Falls so popular in the search for extraterrestrial life?
Amy Williams: This is the most convincing detection of biological signals the rover has made yet. [The presence of biological matter] will be a way to select samples of interest; Biological carbon makes up all life as we know it on Earth. But it is vital to keep in mind that biological carbon can be produced abiotically, that is, without life. It can be produced through geological processes and is made from meteorites that have been deposited on the surface of Mars during its history.
The texture of leopard spots is one of the elements that can also help us identify a region or rock of interest. These spots are circular features of white mineral and are surrounded by a dark mineral border. Through our suite of instruments, we can tell that it contains iron phosphate, and those kinds of features are related to microbial life on Earth. Seeing a texture like that, where you have those other redox stages very close to each other, catches our attention, because it’s the kind of thing that life can use as an energy source.
We see veins of calcium sulfate running through various rocks on Mars. It may simply be that fluids flowed through the rocks and deposited those veins; We just passed a delta fan structure, so we know there was water here in the ancient past.
All of those elements in combination give us the impression of a habitable environment in the ancient past, and some facets of those features may be consistent with things we see on Earth that are related to microbial life. That’s why there is so much excitement. and why we need to explore those rocks more.
Related: NASA’s Perseverance rover confirms the presence of an ancient lake on Mars and may hold clues about beyond life
Space. com: Why can’t Perseverance conclusively find life on Mars?
Williams: The toolkit aboard Perseverance is meant to collect samples and return them to Earth. There are no tools to detect life aboard the rover.
Many parties are discussing what it would mean to have conclusive evidence of life on Mars. There are a lot of tactics to address the issue, and other people need to be very conservative about it, because once you cross that line, you can’t back down. The discovery of life beyond Earth is so profoundly discovered and groundbreaking that it wants to be done right. That’s why it’s so exciting to see a pattern like this, because we have the opportunity to explore this space, to see if that evidence is discovered.
The [more] tool aboard Perseverance is not designed to perform this detection and confirmation; those are the analyses we can do on Earth. For the first time in our history of Mars exploration, we have a smart chance of being able to say something about whether or not there is evidence of ancient life on Mars.
Space. com: What is the atmosphere like within the Perseverance team?
Williams: The team is excited to locate something new, whether or not there is evidence of life on this rock. It brings new power to the team when we work on something that has the potential to reveal so much about Mars. There’s excitement when you take a pattern, and this specific pattern has been impressive: Take a moment to reflect on the amazing things this team has done and NASA has done on Mars and other planetary bodies, so it’s a good time to take a step back and appreciate where we’re all running.
Space. com: What alternative explanations does the team offer for the new features discovered in the rock of Cheyava Falls?
Williams: We’re still trying to understand the surrounding context of the rock from which this pattern emerged. For example, we found it near where two rocks meet and we are seeking to understand this relationship. We don’t know if those rocks have warmed up in the afterlife, could this have resulted in some kind of rezoning of the elements?Near those patterns are those veins involving a mineral called olivine, a giant crystal made from magmas. Is it similar to something found in the afterlife?Is it the most sensitive of the river valley and the introduced one?Is it primary? In which case, how can we reconcile an environment that would be hot enough to have magma but would also have this biological carbon?If it is biological, how do you reconcile that? These are questions that we are in fact facing at the moment.
Our purpose with this project has been to gather the most attractive samples to answer those profound questions. This is not child’s play at all. There are many lifetimes of questions to address.
Related: Possible Mars Signal? Curiosity rover discovers “tantalizing” biological matter on the Red Planet
Space. com: What tools on Earth will allow us to locate ancient life on Mars?
Williams: We have all the tools that the global clinical network can provide.
If you want to take a look at biocarbon, there are many ways to come across biocarbon and learn key points about its design that Perseverance currently doesn’t have. You can perform mass spectrometry analysis to learn more about the biological carbon supply in the sign we get from SHERLOC [one of Perseverance’s instruments]. You then have the option of saying anything about the origin of this material: “It’s so complex that life created it because we don’t know the abiotic process that can produce it” or “It looks exactly like what you’d like to see in a meteorite, [ so] there is no explanation why it was created through life”, or [] you still can’t say either.
When you bring in samples, based on their composition, we deserve to be able to know their age. [So] you can say anything about the time when water flowed on Mars. If we think that life existed, we could potentially tell how long it might have simply existed. There are all these paths you can take and start extrapolating. It’s just the astrobiological side of things, the smaller component of the things that I do and am passionate about, but there’s all of this. It’s an exciting science that we can do with those samples if we can get them back.
Space. com: We don’t know what extraterrestrial life is like, so what would that entail?For example, would it be a game of elimination in which we exclude abiotic processes or do we have a whole catalog of signals from living organisms with which to count the sample of the Cheyava Falls?
Williams: The concept of life as we don’t know it is still just around the corner and everything we deserve, even in a world that is as similar to Earth as Mars.
What you’re looking for is whether you see evidence resources that point in a biotic or abiotic direction. In a way, the most complicated answer would be both, because then it is still an ambiguous answer and the two cannot be dissociated. . That’s science.
Do we have a catalog of “This is biology and this is what abiotic processes create”? “Yes, and it continues to evolve. I hope that if you bring home a Mars pattern, the clinical power and studies will focus on how to separate the gray regions from the abiotic and the biotic, and how we can refine how this area is decided so that we can say something. exactly in those ordinary patterns of Jezero Crater.
Related: Perseverance Rover’s Martian rock sample could contain the best evidence of possible ancient life
— The search for extraterrestrial life.
– The Perseverance rover’s Mars rock pattern would possibly involve the most productive evidence of ancient life imaginable.
– The Perseverance Mars rover digs into the intriguing “Bright Angel” rock formation (photo)
Space. com: How is the Perseverance rover doing?What is the step in the mission?
Williams: I like that she’s a contented lurker, that she has fun doing this.
The rover works fantastically. We finish the margin of Jezero Crater. Our plan was to leave Jezero Crater and explore this very old Noah’s terrane, one of the first periods on Mars when there was water. Diving in a temporary area that we’ve never really explored in situ before is incredibly exciting.
It’s wonderful to have that enthusiasm and drive. This allows everyone to recognize the vital contributions we make to the clinical community. It also gives me a lot of inspiration and hope as to what kind of motivation scientists will have in the long term if those samples can come back. I just talked to an organization of the best academics in the school and said, “You’re all old enough to be scientists analyzing those samples. It’s surprising to me.
These samples will be revolutionary. They are volumetrically small, but their importance eclipses their size. Many long-term generations will know ordinary things about Earth from Mars, about Mars on Mars, exoplanets. . . the list goes on. There are questions that we don’t even know. how to still ask and that these samples give us the opportunity to do so.
Join our local forums to keep talking about the latest missions, the night sky, and more!And if you have any advice, corrections, or comments, please let us know at: community@area. com.
Sharmila Kuthunur is a Seattle-based science journalist covering astronomy, astrophysics, and exploration. Follow her on X @skuthunur.
How to measure the wind on Mars? These scientists have a plan
Ocean water may be buried beneath Mars, but can we do it?
Perseid meteor shower causes ‘shooting stars’ at Stonehenge in astrophotography image
Space is from Future US Inc. , a leading foreign media organization and virtual publisher. Visit our corporate website.