Overview
- A Science Advances paper published June 24 reported that SHERLOC mapped macromolecular carbon in two Bright Angel mudstones, the most robust organic signal yet identified in Jezero Crater.
- One detection was made on the exposed Cheyava Falls rock surface and the other inside a nearby mudstone using ultraviolet Raman and fluorescence mapping.
- The organics appear in different mineral settings, with one sample in a silicate matrix and the other associated with carbonate and sulfate minerals, which suggests multiple emplacement or alteration events.
- SHERLOC cannot distinguish biological from non-biological origins, and researchers highlight plausible abiotic sources such as meteorite delivery, hydrothermal chemistry, or geologic alteration.
- Perseverance has cached key samples including the 'Sapphire Canyon' core for possible return to Earth but a January overhaul of the Mars Sample Return plan has left the timing and method of sample return uncertain.