Evidence Nasa Science

There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate. Human activity is the principal cause. Earth's climate has changed throughout history. Just in the last 800,000 years, there have been eight cycles of ice ages and warmer periods, with the end of the last ice age about 11,700 years ago marking the beginning of the... Most of these climate changes are attributed to very small variations in Earth’s orbit that change the amount of solar energy our planet receives. The current warming trend is different because it is clearly the result of human activities since the mid-1800s, and is proceeding at a rate not seen over many recent millennia.1 It is undeniable that...

This extra energy has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land, and widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, and biosphere have occurred. Earth-orbiting satellites and new technologies have helped scientists see the big picture, collecting many different types of information about our planet and its climate all over the world. These data, collected over many years, reveal the signs and patterns of a changing climate. Scientists demonstrated the heat-trapping nature of carbon dioxide and other gases in the mid-19th century.2 Many of the science instruments NASA uses to study our climate focus on how these gases affect the movement... From the measured impacts of increases in these gases, there is no question that increased greenhouse gas levels warm Earth in response. New research using NASA's Perseverance rover has uncovered strong evidence that Mars' Jezero Crater experienced multiple episodes of fluid activity -- each with conditions that could have supported life.

By analyzing high-resolution geochemical data from the rover, scientists have identified two dozen types of minerals, the building blocks of rocks, that help reveal a dynamic history of volcanic rocks that were altered during... The findings, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, provide important clues for the search for ancient life and help guide Perseverance's ongoing sampling campaign. The study was led by Rice University graduate student Eleanor Moreland and employed the Mineral Identification by Stoichiometry (MIST) algorithm -- a tool developed at Rice -- to interpret data from Perseverance's Planetary Instrument... PIXL bombards Martian rocks with X-rays to reveal their chemical composition, offering the most detailed geochemical measurements ever collected on another planet, according to the study. "The minerals we find in Jezero using MIST support multiple, temporally distinct episodes of fluid alteration," Moreland said, "which indicates there were several times in Mars' history when these particular volcanic rocks interacted with... Minerals form under specific environmental conditions of temperature, pH and the chemical makeup of fluids, making them reliable storytellers of planetary history.

In Jezero, the 24 mineral species reveal the volcanic nature of Mars' surface and its interactions with water over time. The water chemically weathers the rocks and creates salts or clay minerals, and the specific minerals that form depend on environmental conditions. The identified minerals in Jezero reveal three types of fluid interactions, each with different implications for habitability. On Earth, lightning can occur in turbulent clouds of volcanic ash. Now researchers have found evidence of sparks in Martian dust devils. NASA/JPL/Caltech/University of Arizona hide caption

Mini-lightning strikes created by whirling dust devils on Mars have been detected accidentally by the microphone on board the Perseverance rover. The chance discovery is direct evidence of a form of lightning on Mars, researchers say in a report published in Nature. They describe how the rover's microphone picked up signs of electrical arcs just a few centimeters long, which were accompanied by audible shockwaves. "There's been a very big mystery about lightning on Mars for a long time. It's probably one of the biggest mysteries about Mars," says Daniel Mitchard, a lightning researcher at Cardiff University in the United Kingdom, who wasn't part of the research team but wrote an accompanying commentary... "The key thing here," he explains, "is that we actually have a rover on the surface of Mars that appears to have detected something that fits our idea of what we think lightning on...

A sample obtained by NASA's Perseverance rover of rock formed billions of years ago from sediment on the bottom of a lake contains potential signs of ancient microbial life on Mars, according to scientists,... The discovery, detailed in research published on Wednesday, represents one of the best pieces of evidence to date about the possibility that Earth's planetary neighbour once harboured life. Since landing on the Martian surface in 2021, the six-wheeled rover has been exploring Jezero Crater, an area in the planet's northern hemisphere that was once flooded with water and home to an ancient... Perseverance has been collecting samples of rock and loose material called regolith and analyzing them with its various onboard instruments. The rover obtained the newly described sample, called the Sapphire Canyon sample, in a place called the Bright Angel rock formation. This formation consists of fine-grained mudstones and coarse-grained conglomerates, a kind of sedimentary rock composed of gravel-sized particles cemented together by finer-grained sediments.

Stony Brook University planetary scientist Joel Hurowitz, who led the study published in the journal Nature, said that a "potential biosignature" was detected in multi-billion-year-old sedimentary rocks. NASA's Perseverance rover captured audio of dozens of lightning-like electric discharges. (Supplied: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS) Researchers say more than 50 instances of lightning on Mars were detected on audio recordings from the Perseverance rover — the first time such data has been captured. The team suggested dust devils and dust storms could be to blame, mimicking a similar electricity-producing mechanism that also happens on Earth. While experts said the audio evidence was "persuasive", photo or video evidence of the actual flashes would be needed to confirm lightning on Mars.

After decades of searching, it seems that lightning does occur on Mars — but it's nothing like the large bolts we experience on Earth. NASA announced Wednesday that its Perseverance rover discovered what scientists are calling a “potential biosignature” in a rock on Mars last year. This signature, which may have a biological origin but requires further study, represents the most compelling evidence to date for ancient microbial life on Mars, scientists and agency officials said in a press conference. The findings, detailed in a peer-reviewed paper published in the journal Nature, center on a unique, leopard-spotted rock named Cheyava Falls, found within the ancient Jezero Crater that Perseverance has been exploring since 2021. The rock contains a cocktail of organic molecules and minerals strongly associated with biological processes on Earth. The announcement adds a layer of scientific rigor to a discovery first released by NASA last summer.

The key development is the comprehensive analysis and peer review of data from Cheyava Falls. “This very well could be the clearest sign of life that we’ve ever found on Mars, which is incredibly exciting,” said Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy at Wednesday’s press conference. The story of this potential biosignature began in July 2024. After years of exploring the floor of Jezero Crater, an ancient lakebed, the Perseverance rover drove into Neretva Vallis, the river valley that once fed the now-dry lake. There, it encountered the peculiar Cheyava Falls rock within the Bright Angel formation — a set of rocky outcrops along the northern and southern edges of the river valley. The rock was immediately striking, adorned with small, dark “poppy seed” flecks and distinctive, white, ringed “leopard spots.”

For centuries, humans have looked up at the night sky with wonder, pondering an age-old question: Are we alone? The idea that life might exist beyond the confines of Earth has stirred imaginations, inspired myths, and driven scientific inquiry. Today, thanks to decades of pioneering space exploration, NASA has pushed the frontier of this quest farther than ever before. Its latest discoveries—ranging from the icy moons of our own solar system to the detection of mysterious signals from distant exoplanets—offer tantalizing clues that the universe may be teeming with life in ways we... But how exactly has NASA’s recent research shaped our understanding? What does the data say about the conditions necessary for life?

And most importantly, what are the prospects for finding extraterrestrial organisms, whether microscopic or intelligent? To unravel these profound mysteries, we must dive deep into the breakthroughs that have redefined the search for life beyond Earth. Water is the fundamental thread weaving through NASA’s search for extraterrestrial life. Life on Earth depends on liquid water—it serves as the solvent in which biochemical reactions unfold, the medium that sustains cellular machinery. So NASA’s first directive is clear: find water elsewhere. In recent years, missions like the Mars rovers, the Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn, and the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes have dramatically expanded our understanding of where water exists beyond Earth.

Mars, once a dry and dusty red planet, has revealed signs of ancient riverbeds, mineral deposits created by water, and even seasonal dark streaks that hint at salty liquid flows. The discovery of water ice locked beneath Mars’s surface—and the detection of fleeting traces of methane in its thin atmosphere—have galvanized hopes that microbial life may have once thrived there or perhaps still survives... Further afield, NASA’s Cassini mission made a stunning revelation about Enceladus, one of Saturn’s icy moons. Giant plumes of water vapor, laden with organic molecules, jet out from cracks in its frozen surface, erupting into space like cosmic geysers. Beneath that icy crust lies a vast subsurface ocean, warmed by tidal forces squeezing the moon’s interior. Similarly, Europa, a moon of Jupiter, hides a vast saltwater ocean under its fractured ice shell, creating yet another prime habitat for life.

These discoveries confirm that liquid water—once thought scarce in the cold reaches of the solar system—is far more abundant and diverse than previously imagined. NASA Science seeks to discover the secrets of the universe, search for life elsewhere, and protect and improve life on Earth and in space. Our mission milestones showcase the breadth and depth of NASA science. Launched September 24, 2025, IMAP will help researchers better understand the boundary of the heliosphere, a huge bubble created by the Sun surrounding and protecting our solar system. Launched July 23, 2025, TRACERS will study magnetic reconnection—when solar activity disrupts Earth’s magnetic field—to help scientists better understand and prepare for the effects of space weather. The Lucy mission captured stunning, detailed images of asteroid Donaldjohanson during a fly by on April 20, 2025, as the spacecraft heads towards the distant Trojan asteroids.

In 2025, NASA faced unprecedented uncertainty as it grappled with sweeping layoffs, looming budget cuts, and leadership switch-ups. Despite all of that, the agency somehow still managed to do some seriously astonishing science. The insights we gained from NASA researchers, robots, telescopes, and spacecraft this year underscore the importance of protecting the agency’s core mission: to explore the unknown in air and space, innovate for the benefit... NASA will continue stretching the limits of our knowledge for years to come, but before we look ahead, it’s worth revisiting some of the agency’s most groundbreaking discoveries of the past year. Here are seven that truly stood out. While exploring Mars’s Jezero Crater in July 2024, NASA’s Perseverance rover stumbled upon an unusual rock.

Its surface was peppered with spots resembling poppy seeds and leopard print. These distinctive features immediately caught the attention of scientists on Earth, as they suggested it may hold a potential biosignature. Perseverance extracted a core and used its science instruments to investigate the surface chemistry and composition of the rock, now known as Chevaya Falls. A team of scientists led by Joel Hurowitz, an associate professor of planetary science at Stony Brook University, quickly got to work analyzing Perseverance’s data. In September of this year, the agency revealed their findings. Chevaya Falls may in fact be the clearest sign of past life ever found on Mars.

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