NASA’s Persence rover for Mars revealed rocks on a dry river channel that may contain potential signs of ancient tiny life, scientists said on Wednesday.

They themselves emphasized that in -depth analysis of the sample collected there by Persevert – ideal in laboratories on Earth – before reaching any conclusions, as reported by the Associated Press.

The rover that has been “wandering” on Mars since 2021 cannot immediately detect life. Instead, it carries a drill to penetrate rocks and pipes to contain samples of parts that have been considered the most appropriate to accommodate life billions of years ago.

“All we can say is that microbial life is one of the possible explanations but there could be other ways to create this set of features we see.”At the Associated Press, lead researcher Joel Hurowitz of Stony Brook University told the Associated Press.

Whatever the case, Hurowitz said that this is the best, most convincing sample so far in rover search for potential signs of life in very old years. It was the 25th sample collected. The number has now reached 30 and there are six more.

“It would be amazing to be able to prove in a convincing way that these features were formed by something that was alive on another planet billions of years ago, right?” said Hurowitz.

Collected last summer, the sample comes from reddish, rich in clay mud in the Neretva valley, a river channel that once carried water to the Jezero crater.

Along with the organic carbon, a structural element of life, Hurowitz and his team found tiny spots, called poppy seeds and leopard spots, which were enriched with phosphate and iron sulfide. On Earth, these chemicals are by -products when microorganisms devour organic matter.

The findings were published in Nature magazine.

When Persevence was launched in 2020, NASA expected samples from Mars back to Earth in the early 2030s. But this date was postponed to the 2040s as costs were launched to $ 11 billion, delaying the recovery effort.

Until the samples are transferred from Mars with robotic spaceships or astronauts, scientists will have to rely on earthly substitutes and laboratory experiments to evaluate the issue of ancient life on Mars, according to Hurowitz.