NASA Seems Awfully Excited About Finding Organic Matter on Mars

The presence of organic matter isn't a slam dunk for proof of life on Mars, but it is a promising sign.

The Jezero crater is believed to have been the location of a lake billions of years ago. According to NASA scientists, the highest concentration of organic matter has been found in four of the fluvial samples that Perseverance has collected.

The samples were collected from a very small area. Mars' historical environment has been preserved thanks to the fact that a river once flowed into the lake.

Ken Farley, a scientist with the Perseverance project, said at a press conference on Thursday that the volcanic rocks found on the crater floor contrast beautifully with the sedimentary rocks found in the delta.

The juxtaposition gives us a rich understanding of the geologic history after the crater formed. We found a sandstone that was far away from Jezero Crater.

There is a stone that is thought to have been formed at the bottom of the lake. Perseverance collected two rock core samples and scanned the exposed interior of the stone using a specialized laser instrument called SherLOC.

As the lake dried up, the area became very concentrated in both sulfate and organics.

Sulfate is the best way to preserve organics.

"On Earth, sulfate deposits are known to conserve organics and can harbor signs of life, which are called biosignatures," said SHERLOC scientist Sunada Sharma at the conference.

"This makes these samples and this set of observations some of the most intriguing that we've done so far in the mission and fulfill some of the excitement that the team had when we were approaching the Delta front."

It's possible that the compounds aren't the remnants of life, but could have been formed through chemical or geological processes.

It might take some time to nail down a definitive answer. The rover isn't equipped with the kind of scientific instruments needed to declare the samples as containing biosignatures beyond a shadow of doubt. Instead, scientists will have to wait for the samples to be transported back home via NASA's Mars Sample Return mission, which won't happen until at least 2033

Perseverance will continue to collect more samples and analyze the rocks of the Mars surface until then.

NASA says Musk's Mars Colony sounds horrible.