Mars Riverbeds Reveal Complex Organics, Raising Life-Hunt Prospects

NASA’s Perseverance rover detected hundreds of macromolecular carbon molecules in mudstones from an ancient Jezero Crater river channel, with SHERLOC identifying carbon in both sedimentary minerals and in later-formed carbonate and sulfate minerals. The carbon appears to have been incorporated during deposition and later groundwater alteration. While intriguing, the findings do not prove life and could arise from non-biological processes; scientists plan Earth-based analysis of cached samples to distinguish biology from geology.