A Mars rock sample collected last summer shows chemical fingerprints that might be traces of past microbe activity, though non-biological explanations are still possible, according to NASA .

The Perseverance rover found the rock in July 2024. The drilled sample, nicknamed Sapphire Canyon , is now the strongest clue scientists have that life once existed on ancient Mars, according to the U.S. space agency.

NASA held a news conference Wednesday to announce that the rover's findings have since passed peer review in the journal Nature , a key step in the scientific process to ensure the evidence is solid. Associate administrator Nicky Fox emphasized that the sample does not contain life itself but a fossilized remnant that suggests life had possibly been there.

"It's kin

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