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ARTICLE · 09 OCTOBER 2025

NASA Rover Discovers More Compelling Indicators Of Ancient Life On Mars

NASA recently announced that its Perseverance rover has uncovered the clearest evidence yet of ancient life on Mars.

CanadaTechnology

NASA recently announced that its Perseverance rover has uncovered the clearest evidence yet of ancient life on Mars. The discovery concerns a reddish rock sample named Sapphire Canyon collected in July 2024 from Neretva Vallis, an ancient river valley that once emptied into Jezero Crater over 3 billion years ago. The Sapphire Canyon sample, which was taken from the youngest sedimentary rocks that the mission has studied, contravenes an earlier hypothesis that ancient life on Mars would be confined to older rock formations.

Since landing on Mars in 2021, Perseverance has been exploring the 50-kilometer-wide Jezero Crater by collecting rock samples and loose material called regolith. To date, the six-wheeled rover has collected 30 samples on Mars, analyzing them for signs of life with various onboard instruments.

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