ROCK ON

Major Discovery Points Towards Life on Mars

It provides a big clue about what might have been going on there billions of years ago.

A Mars rover has discovered strange, bleached rocks that suggest Mars may have once been wet and warm. Researchers at Purdue University in Indiana have examined rock fragments and found what they believe is evidence that the Red Planet once had a tropical climate. The rocks found in the Jezero Crater by the Perseverance rover are “Probably some of the most important outcrops we’ve seen,” said Briony Horgan, professor of planetary science at Purdue University. “We think [they] could be evidence of an ancient warmer and wetter climate where there was rain falling for millions of years.” The discovery bolsters the theory that moisture and heat were present there billions of years ago, and therefore may have once supported life. Analysis found that the fragments were composed of kaolinite, which forms on Earth after millions of years of rain and moisture. Prof. Hogan said, “Right now, the evidence in these rocks really points toward these kinds of ancient warmer and wetter environments. When we think about the possibility of these rocks on Mars representing a rainfall-driven environment, that is a really incredible, habitable place where life could have thrived if it were ever on Mars.”