Perseverance Finds Potential Biosignatures in Jezero Crater
NASA’s Perseverance rover has identified minerals—such as vivianite and greigite—in sedimentary rocks from Jezero Crater that may be potential biosignatures indicating ancient microbial activity on Mars. The samples, formed over 3.5 billion years ago, were collected by Perseverance and analyzed by researchers, who published their findings in Nature.
Key points:
- Minerals like vivianite and greigite can form when organic matter reacts with mud; on Earth, that process is often driven by microbes.
- Researchers caution these minerals are potential biosignatures, not definitive proof—nonbiological processes can produce similar minerals.
- The samples were collected by Perseverance during its surface mission (launched 2021) and analyzed by the team led by Joel Hurowitz.
Quote from the study lead: “On Earth, reactions like these, which combine organic matter and chemical compounds in mud to form new minerals like vivianite and greigite, are often driven by the activity of microbes,” said Joel Hurowitz (Stony Brook University).
Sources and further reading:
- NASA / JPL press release: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-says-mars-rover-discovered-potential-biosignature-last-year/
- Nature paper: Hurowitz, J., et al. (2025). Redox-driven mineral and organic associations in Jezero Crater: potential biosignatures from Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09413-0 (full paper)
- Science news summary (CBS): https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nasa-mars-rover-ancient-life-signs/
Context and next steps:
The discovery supports the view that early Mars had abundant water and habitable environments. Future follow-up research will test hypotheses to determine whether biology was responsible for these mineralogical features.
Have thoughts or questions? Leave a comment below — what would convince you that Mars once hosted life?