By: Julia Valencia
People Editor
The NASA Mars Rover, Perseverance, which has been navigating the planet’s rough terrain, recently reported images back to NASA that provide evidence to support the argument for life on Mars. What people are calling the “Martian Mudstone” has sparked controversy among the Scientific community and world stage, as scientists and the public alike ponder the validity of the potential claim.
Mars is rocky, dry, and very cold. Perseverance found the rock in hardened mud alongside what used to be an ancient, flourishing river. What first caught the attention of scientists was the rock’s markings. NASA described the rock as littered with dark specks, nicknamed “poppy seeds,” as they are only a few thousandths of an inch wide. To the public eye, the markings may seem negligible, but to NASA scientists, they provided a means for further investigation. The rover’s test of the rock revealed organic molecules and minerals. Vivianite and greigite, two of the minerals found, are associated with microbial life on Earth, leading NASA to believe that these minerals may also represent life on Mars.
The scientists also observed larger features, nicknamed “leopard spots”: dark rings of vivianite surrounding off-white centers that contained greigite. Joel Hurowitz, a member of the Perseverance science team and a professor of geosciences at Stony Brook University, observed that “the leopard spots kind of look like they maybe started as poppy seeds but were able to continue growing to a larger size.”
Although it is possible for minerals to be created without the use of living organisms, when tested in a lab, the gregite reactions require heating to more than 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Based on the current testing of the rock, it appears that the minerals formed at colder temperatures.
The NY Times revealed that the rock also contains organic compounds, the building blocks for life. Unfortunately, those, too, can be created through processes that have nothing to do with life, so while interesting, they do not provide solid evidence for the existence of life. Scientists in the pursuit of finding alien life often quote Carl Sagan: “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” Right now, the evidence in the rock is intriguing, but not extraordinary.
The Mars Sample Return Mission, which aims to bring back the samples collected by Perseverance, was put on hold as cost estimates began to exceed upwards of 11 billion dollars. NASA has begun searching for other ways of bringing the rock sample back. In its budget request this year, the Trump administration considered canceling the Mars Sample Return mission entirely, which could cause a detrimental pause in the Mars Mission. While many scientists stay skeptical about the findings, there is a common consensus that this rock is the most compelling evidence found to suggest life on Mars.
(Sources: NASA, NPR, NY Times, Purdue)