Almost there ...

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover captured this image of a rocky area nicknamed "Cheyava Falls" on July 18, 2024, showing black "poppy seed" and larger "leopard spot" features. Researchers say a sample from the site reveals a tantalizing mix of details suggesting the potential presence of life, billions of years ago.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Almost there sums it up as Perseverance may have discovered life on Mars. If so, the concept of life being relegated to one small planet residing in a mid size galaxy existing alongside trillions of others has been rendered moot. As for yours truly, the notion of life being unique to Earth is patently absurd but I'll let others far more versed than me to ponder that question, which may finally be answered very soon. If yes, it quashes the agonizing question of is there life residing elsewhere, a notion plaguing mankind since the beginning of time. :)

A long time ago, life left microscopic signatures on Mars — or did it? That's the question NASA scientists have worked for years to answer. On Wednesday, NASA researchers said the answer might be in a rock sample that "contains potential biosignatures."

The exciting rock sample in question is dubbed Sapphire Canyon. NASA's Perseverance Mars rover collected it last summer from a reddish, vein-filled rock along the edge of an ancient, quarter-mile wide river valley known as Neretva Vallis.

Then, in July 2024, Perseverance found the rock that has tantalized scientists for months. NASA researchers say it has features such as small black "poppy seed" spots and larger "leopard spots" — patterns that are often telltale signs associated with life.

"This is the kind of signature that we would see that was made by something biological," Fox said. "In this case, it's kind of the equivalent of seeing leftover fossils … leftovers from a meal. And maybe that meal has been excreted by a microbe. And that's what we're seeing in this sample."

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover alongside the rock nicknamed "Cheyava Falls," in this July 23, 2024, selfie made up of 62 individual images. "Cheyava Falls," which has features that may bear on the question of whether the Red Planet was long ago home to microscopic life, is to the left of the rover near the center of the image. The small hole visible in the rock is where Perseverance collected the "Sapphire Canyon" core sample. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS