Overview

• A Nature paper details measurements from the Cheyava Falls outcrop and its Sapphire Canyon core showing greigite, vivianite, organic carbon, oxidized iron, phosphorus, and sulfur in distinct leopard-spot patterns.
• Perseverance’s PIXL and SHERLOC instruments mapped the textures and chemistry that scientists say are consistent with a potential biosignature.
• NASA stresses the findings are not proof of ancient life, while Acting Administrator Sean Duffy called them the clearest sign yet found on Mars.
• The Sapphire Canyon sample remains cached on the rover, with definitive tests contingent on returning it to Earth through a Mars Sample Return campaign.
• A White House budget proposal would sharply cut NASA’s science funding, jeopardizing Mars Sample Return and potentially impacting Perseverance support from MAVEN and Mars Odyssey if enacted on October 1 without new appropriations.