Perseverance rover’s discovery of organics on Mars could be illusory

A year after reports that Nasa’s Perseverance rover had discovered organic compounds in Mars’ Jezero crater that could hint at ancient life, a new study in Science Advances is challenging these claims.¹ While the rover’s mission is to uncover evidence of prebiotic chemistry, researchers now show that what was thought to be organic compounds might actually be inorganic material, opening up a debate about whether the Red Planet holds clues to past life or if the building blocks of life are still there below the surface.