Mars's Sapphire Canyon

The Perseverance rover has been on Mars for 5 years now.  This month, NASA told us that a rock sample taken from an ancient dry riverbed on Mars shows potential biosignatures--possible signs of former life!

A potential biosignature is a substance or structure that might have a biological origin, but more analysis is required to determine the presence or absence of life.  According to NASA, the rover came across the sample when it was "exploring the "Bright Angel" formation, a set of rocky outcrops on the northern and southern edges of Neretva Vallis, an ancient river valley measuring a quarter-mile (400 meters) wide that was carved by water rushing into Jezero Crater long ago."

Perseverance analyzed the sample and found that the formation is made of clay and silt, which, on Earth, are excellent preservers of ancient microbial life.  It is also rich in chemical compounds that could have provided energy to ancient microbes.

This is the closest we have ever come to finding life on Mars!