NASA announces: Clearest sign of life in space has been reached

Sean Duffy, Acting Administrator of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), announced that a finding believed to be a sign of microbial life on the Martian surface has been reached.

Explaining the results of the analysis of a rock sample taken last year by NASA's Perseverance rover, Duffy said, "NASA has been exploring Mars for the last 30 years.

In these investigations, we are looking for traces of life. We are looking for water. But throughout the 30-year process, there were many times in the past when we thought we had found signs of life, and when we presented this to the scientific community, they returned to us with this response: 'Look, this thing you think is life might actually have been created by something else.' The history of the collaboration between NASA's findings and the scientific community has been like this," he said.

Noting that the sample was taken a year ago from an area on Mars thought to have once contained rivers and lakes using the Perseverance rover, which was sent to Mars during the first term of U.S. President Donald Trump, Duffy said, "Therefore, a year ago, we reached a finding that we believe to be signs of microbial life on the Martian surface. We presented this to scientists for testing, analysis, and evaluation. We asked if this could truly be a sign that there was once life on Mars. After a year of examination, they came to us and said they could find no other explanation for this (other than that there was life on Mars). For this reason, this may be the clearest finding we have ever discovered regarding life on Mars," he said.

In the statement made by NASA, it was noted that the rock sample named "Sapphire Canyon," taken from the Neretva Vallis valley on Mars, contains spots and marks resembling poppy seeds and leopard spots that are believed to have been created by microscopic organisms, and that these are believed to have formed as a result of microbial activity.

"THE MOMENT WE HAVE COME CLOSEST TO DISCOVERING THAT THERE WAS ONCE LIFE ON MARS"

Speaking at the press conference, Nicky Fox from NASA Headquarters' Science Mission Directorate said, "Today, we believe we are one step closer to finding an answer to one of humanity's deepest questions: Are we truly alone in the universe?"

Emphasizing that the analyses performed on the marks in the rock sample taken by Perseverance show that they could have been created by some form of ancient life, Fox said, "This finding is the moment we have come closest to discovering that there was once life on Mars, and as you can see, this really excites us."

Emphasizing that what was found is not life itself but a type of signature, a trace left behind, Fox said, "It could certainly be a remnant of life, which would mean something that existed there billions of years ago. It is not something currently present there today."

Pointing out that this is a signature that could have been left behind by a biological entity, Fox stated, "As Duffy also said, we do not know for certain that this is the case. However, we will not stop after this initial analysis. This is definitely not the final answer. We have the first results, and we are sharing them with you, with the world."