Nasa’s Mars rover finds arrowhead-shaped rock which could contain first signs that life existed on planet

NASA’s Mars rover may have found the first possible signs that life existed on the Red Planet billions of years ago.

An arrowhead-shaped rock has been identified that appears to contain chemical signatures and structures formed by microbial life.

The 3.2ft by 2ft rock was discovered by the Perseverance rover as it drove along the northern edge of an ancient river valley in the planet’s Jezero crater.

It has been named Cheyava Falls after a waterfall in the Grand Canyon.

Project scientist Ken Farley said the rock was the “most puzzling, complex, and potentially important” yet revealed on Mars.

He said it had shown “distinctive colourful spots indicative of chemical reactions that microbial life could use as an energy source, and clear evidence that water — necessary for life — once passed through the rock”.

Nasa now wants to get the sample to Earth for more research into how it may have been formed.

Ken Farley said: “Cheyava Falls is the most puzzling, complex, and potentially important rock yet investigated by Perseverance.

“On the one hand, we have our first compelling detection of organic material, distinctive colorful spots indicative of chemical reactions that microbial life could use as an energy source, and clear evidence that water — necessary for life — once passed through the rock.

“On the other hand, we have been unable to determine exactly how the rock formed and to what extent nearby rocks may have heated Cheyava Falls and contributed to these features.”