Did NASA just find evidence of ancient life on Mars? Perseverance rover spots complex carbon in Red Planet rocks

Could Martian mudstones be holding evidence of ancient microbes? New findings strengthen the case that the Red Planet once held life. New data from NASA's Perseverance rover has revealed complex carbon in two Martian mudstones found in Mars' Jezero crater , the same location where previous evidence of possible ancient life has been found. Scientists think this macromolecular (meaning large) complex carbon, could hold evidence that ancient microbial life once existed in the same sedimentary material, according to one new paper describing these observations. "Measurements of two mudstones show hundreds of organic detections, making this the most robust organic detection in Jezero crater," the paper reads. This comes soon after the news last year that Perseverance found what has been dubbed the strongest evidence of potential biosignatures, or hints of life, on Mars . "Carbon is the primary building block for life on Earth, and all living things are made up of complex organic macromolecules," lead author Ashley Murphy, a researcher at the Planetary Science Institute, told Space.com. "On Earth, [macromolecular carbon] is often found in extremely old rocks and in some cases it is the only organic evidence of past microbial life. …