Mars in green? This is the new discovery that has NASA amazed at our neighboring planet

The Perseverance Rover, the little robot NASA sent to explore Mars, has just sent back some photos that have NASA scientists asking a lot of questions about their origin. It turns out that some of the rocks it found have green stains on them.

Of course, this is Mars, the “Red Planet,” so no one expected to see anything like that color there. These are the first samples the Perseverance Rover has sent back that are this color, and they caught all the scientists off guard, leaving them struggling to explain where this pigmentation on the rock came from.

What does this mean? Is there life on Mars?

The first question that has come to everyone’s mind after reading this news is: “Could this be a sign of life?” But we need to be cautious, as jumping to conclusions about life on Mars just because of some green stains on a rock is a bit too ambitious. Experts have warned us not to rush to conclusions, as people tend to get too excited and spread wild theories before having solid evidence.

The experts think these green stains might not be anything extraterrestrial, but rather minerals that just happen to look this way because they reflect sunlight in unusual ways that we’re not used to. So, while discovering life on Mars would certainly be incredible and a historic milestone, we can’t get too excited just yet, since there’s no real evidence pointing to that.

One scientist working with Perseverance said something that I thought was interesting: “The discovery of these spots was completely unexpected. We still don’t know what they are. But they definitely piqued our interest. There are many possibilities, but we need time to explore them.” Now that you know, it’s time to see what else they reveal.

Could it be related to Martian water?

Another theory going around is that the green stains could be related to water. As we know, Mars used to have water, billions of years ago, rivers and lakes flowed across its surface. Today, all that water is locked away at the planet’s poles in the form of permanent ice caps.

Because of this, some scientists believe these green spots might be minerals that form in the presence of water. If that’s true, it would be another clue that Mars could have had conditions suitable for life. Of course, this is all just speculation at the moment.

While we hope this means we’ve discovered something groundbreaking, the scientists are asking us to stay grounded. Like with many of the most important scientific discoveries in history, it will take time to fully determine the origin of these green stains and their meaning, whether they’re related to extraterrestrial life or not.