NASA's Perseverance finds complex carbon molecules in Jezero Crater rocks
NASA's Perseverance rover just found complex, carbon-rich molecules in rocks from Jezero Crater, a spot that used to be a lake billions of years ago.
This discovery doesn't prove there was life on Mars, but it does make things a lot more interesting for anyone curious about life beyond Earth.
Perseverance detects carbon in Jezero mudstones
Perseverance spotted these stable carbon compounds in mudstones from an old river system, using its ultraviolet spectrometer.
On Earth, similar stuff is often linked to fossils and even ancient microbes.
Scientists are excited but careful. They'll need more tests back on Earth to figure out if this Martian carbon has anything to do with past life or if it's just geology doing its thing.
Either way, Jezero Crater is now an even bigger deal for future Mars missions.