News Planetary Science

A Mars rover found organic carbon just sitting on a rock

Whether life made the carbon is unknown. The find sharpens the case for bringing samples home

The Perseverance rover sits on reddish, rocky Martian terrain, its robotic arm extended down toward a flat outcrop with a low hill behind it.

In July 2024, the Perseverance rover on Mars snapped this selfie next to a rock dubbed Cheyava Falls. The rock’s surface, it turns out, contains complex organic carbon.

JPL-Caltech/NASA, MSSS

By Fechi Inyama

Perseverance strikes again with an intriguing — yet unresolved — clue in the search for past life on Mars.