Mysterious NASA announcement sparks theories life has been found on Mars

Daily Mail ^ | Published: 16:50 EDT, 9 September 2025 | Updated: 16:52 EDT, 9 September 2025 | By CHRIS MELORE, US ASSISTANT SCIENCE EDITOR

[Ezekiel]

NASA may be preparing to deliver some monumental news about Mars after surprisingly calling for a rare news conference on Wednesday.

Officials with the space agency said they plan to discuss a 'new finding' by the Perseverance rover, which has been on the Red Planet since 2021.

The discovery involves a rock called 'Sapphire Canyon,' collected by the rover in July 2024 from an ancient river system in a Martian area called Neretva Vallis.

Scientists are excited because this rock might contain 'biosignatures,' which are chemical clues that could hint at ancient microbial life on Mars.

>>>

While NASA has a history of being extremely cautious with saying they've found signs of life on other planets, the announcement scheduled for September 10 at 11am ET has already created a buzz among astronomy fans.

[SunkenCiv]

from the FRchives:

• What's Behind NASA's Upcoming Mystery Announcement About Mars [09/24/2015]
• Mars 'mystery solved': has Nasa found water flowing on the Red Planet? [09/27/2015]
• NASA Discusses Science Update Sheds Light On Mars Mystery! !!:30 AM FIVE MINUTES! [09/28/2015]
• Water Is Flowing on Mars [09/28/2015]
• Evidence found of "flowing liquid water" on Mars: NASA [09/28/2015]
• Life on Mars? NASA Finds Flowing Water on Barren Planet [09/28/2015]
• Big NASA "Mars mystery" announcement gets watered down [09/28/2015]
• Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Seasonal Streaks Point to Recent Flowing Water on Mars [09/30/2015]
• NASA found something on Mars and it's holding a press conference on Thursday to tell everyone [06/06/2018]

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• (my first FR post 1/03/2004) Mars Exploration Rover Mission, Spirit Lands [01/03/2004]

[DouglasKC]

Unless living organisms were blasted from Earth into space by an ancient asteroid strike (which might have happened), life on Mars or any other planet is impossible, because abiogenesis (the evolution of life from inorganic materials) is impossible.

The best response evolution believers have about this is that evolution isn't concerned with the origin of life. That's a different field. So they never have to address it.

[DouglasKC]

I used to love to read Ray Bradbury sci-fi, especially about Mars. A couple of years ago, I read all of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Mars series. Quite impossible, of course, but very entertaining.

The ERB stories were the story. Could have been set on Barsoom or anywhere else and it would have made no difference.

[HandyDandy]

I loved Martian Chronicles, R is for Rocket, Dandelion Wine, etc. Elton John’s Rocket Man was based on a Ray Bradbury short story.

[one guy in new jersey]

“...hypothesizing billions of years for an impossibility...”

Very well put, nm.

Thanks for chiming in on the side of truth and reason!

[one guy in new jersey]

Yes, some are “noseblind” when it comes to detecting signs of life there.

[Ezekiel]

(my first FR post 1/03/2004) Mars Exploration Rover Mission, Spirit Lands [01/03/2004]

Ahh, you arrived with the Spirit of Mars!

Auspicious!

😃

The place of first light on America (sunrise from March 25 the Feast of the Annunciation to Sept 18th the morning after Constitution Day) is on

Mars Hill!

It's even the place of the Big Rock, where two sticks come together every winter, address 37 Graves.

Coincidence? 😉

Mars -- the planet that keeps on giving the whole year through.

That was all I was going to write, but then I had to ping a few folks as well because...

Just before hitting post I though well now, there's been some real positive waves in this stuff just rolling out as I type... I really ought to check that date (a vibe I've learned to pick up on by experience). Besides, it was on "the third day":

Shabbat, January 3, 2004
9 Tevet, 5764

Torah Reading
Vayigash: Genesis 44:18 - 47:27
Ezekiel 37:15-28

(There's even a banner currently at the top for a class. "Big G-d. Small Book. More than a page turner; a life turner. Enroll Here")

The Haftarah reading [from the prophets]:

Yechezkel (Ezekiel) Chapter 37

15 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
16 "And you, son of man, take for yourself one stick and write upon it, 'For Judah and for the children of Israel his companions'; and take one stick and write upon it, 'For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.'
17 And bring them close, one to the other into one stick, and they shall be one in your hand.
18 And when the children of your people say to you, saying, 'Will you not tell us what these are to you?'
19 Say to them, So says the Lord God: Behold I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel his companions, and I will place them with him with the stick of Judah, and I will make them into one stick, and they shall become one in My hand.
20 And the sticks upon which you shall write shall be in your hand before their eyes...

etz [עץ] -- tree/wood/stick

A quick image search for big rock ski lodge maine pulled this out of a hat. Perfect:

See? You can't make this stuff up. What a great way to start today. Nice vanishing point perspective on that ski run "mountain" to boot.

atom

Etymology From Middle English attome, from Middle French athome, from Latin atomus (“smallest particle”), from Ancient Greek ἄτομος (átomos, “indivisible”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) +‎ τέμνω (témnō, “to cut”, o-grade in τομ-) +‎ -ος (-os). Atoms are so named because they were historically thought up as to be the smallest unit of matter, and thus indivisible. Doublet of atomus.

(Big G-d. Small Book.)

Adirondack

From the Mohawk ratirontaks, atirú:taks, hatiron'taks (“they eat trees”), a term applied by the Mohawks indiscriminately to other tribes, including the French and English, but especially other Native Americans who ate bark and buds when other food sources were scarce.

[Svartalfiar]

Whatever you were trying to convey in that sentence, it came out wrong. In particular the "oxidize iron instead of oxygen" part.

Oxidization means gaining an oxygen atom. Oxidation is the chemical process by which electrons are lost, and does not require oxygen. It was just named such because way back when, scientists only knew about oxygen forcing this process mainly. Unfortunately, the name stuck even after it was realized other atoms do it too, especially fluorine, or in this case, accomplished by iron.