The news announced by NASA regarding the discovery of a possible clue to microbial life In the ancient past of Mars he is traveling around the world. The discovery, exhibited in a study published yesterday in the magazine Natureit is important because it represents the most promising indication of the possible presence of life never found on the red planet. The so -called “biofrar” – in this case particular minerals associated with organic molecules – were found by the rover perseverance in a Martian rock sample called Sapphire Canyoncollected in July 2024 in what millions of years ago was a Martian river valley and who had already attracted the attention of scientists at the time.
Be careful, though: NASA has not announced the discovery of life on Marsneither present nor passed. What has been found are chemical compounds in the sample Sapphire Canyon whose most probable origin, here on earth, would be biological. In technical jargon we speak in these cases of Biosignaturesor “bioferme“, That is, clues of chemical – but not incontrovertible evidence – of biological activity. The authors of the study, however, recall that these compounds could also have geological origin, therefore The question remains open.
It is not the first time that NASA has announced the discovery of biofrar on other worlds of the solar and non-solar system: see the case of phosphine on Venus or the dimetylsulfur on the exoplanet K2-18 b, but none of these ads received official confirmations. It is still early to jump with joy: Further studies will be needed To confirm or deny the biological origin of the structures found by Perseverances in the Martian rock champion.
Potential clues of past life: the importance of discovery on Mars
What knows canyon has so special is his chemical composition: The analyzes carried out by Perseverances showed the presence in the structure of the sample of small “spheres” – with dimensions lower than 1 mm – surrounded by clear “halos”; both these structures are enriched with minerals (Vivianite And Greigite) which contain iron phosphate And iron sulphide.
These compounds and these particular morphological conformations here on earth are generally formed through the metabolic activity of Anaerobi microbes that in the absence of oxygen and low temperatures exploit particular chemical reactions called obsidorduction For Extract energy from minerals that contain iron and sulfur. For example, we find these “balls” surrounded by “halos” rich in phosphates and iron sulfur in the cold waters of the Antarctic region, where, however, Greigite and Vivianite are often associated. This suggests that the possibility of a biological origin for these minerals is asolid hypothesis from a scientific point of view.
In summary, it is the presence of these nodules of iron reduced (i.e. that has acquired electrons) in an environment like the Martian one in which iron is almost everything oxidized (i.e. he sold electrons) with many organic molecules available and low temperatures that has captured the interest of scientists: the combination of all these circumstances can in fact easily explain through the metabolism of anaerobic bacteria.
However, this is not the only possible explanation for what was found in the sample Sapphire Canyon. They are known in fact abiotic processes (i.e. that do not imply the presence of life forms) that can produce nodules such as those of the Martian champion, but many of these require high temperatureswhile mineralogical analyzes indicate that this Martian rock has formed in a cold environment. Furthermore, it is not said that life on another planet may have developed the same chains of biochemical reactions that we find in terrestrial life. To help scientists to settle the question, they would need more in -depth analysis that Persearnace is unable to carry out but that could be carried out in the workshops here on Earth. Here, however, a political and economic problem arises.
Will the Martian rock champions Sapphire Canyon arrive on earth?
The main objective of Perseverance has always been to look for any clues to life in the Martian past. Given the complexity of the analyzes required to study something so complex, the need to bring to the ground the samples collected by the Rover on the Red Planet was foreseen. For this the program has been set up Mars Sample Returna joint effort between the American and European space agency that represents one of the most ambitious projects ever conceived in the history of space exploration.
The Mars Sample Return program is divided into three parts. The first is precisely the Rover Perseverance, which deals with collecting the most interesting champions from the astrobiological point of view and boiling them in special capsules. To bring them back to the ground, two other missions are needed: one that brings one on the surface of Mars one small rover which collects the capsules to bring them on one launch platform that the “shots” in Martian orbit; There he will then need one orbiting probe Designed to intercept the capsules launched by the second mission and bring them to Earth.
As you can imagine, it is an extremely complex and expensive program, however necessary to carry out all the investigations on the Martian champions that Perseverance cannot carry out. The problem is that the Main lines of the NASA budget for the year 2026 issued in April by the Trump-Vance administration provide for an abandonment of the USA of the entire Mars Sample Return program. Specifically, a note issued by NASA reports that:
Consistent with the administration’s priority to return to the moon before China and to send an American to Mars, the financial statements will advance scientific and priority scientific and research projects, putting an end to financially unsustainable programs, including the Mars Sample Return.
Without the participation of NASA, at the moment it seems unlikely that in the near future we could make Sapphire Canyon and the other Martian champions in the terrestrial workshops analyze.
