What new Mars discoveries say about the possibility of ancient life - Yahoo

New Mars discoveries emerge as NASA eyes sending the first astronauts to the red planet.

- Researchers found geological features that suggest a massive ocean once covered a third of the planet.

- NASA's Curiosity rover discovered seven organic molecules never before seen on Mars.

- These findings do not confirm past life but indicate Mars once had the right chemistry to support it.

We're getting closer and closer to definitely answering the question: Did life ever exist on Mars?

April has been a pivotal month for the search for ancient life on the now-barren red planet, where NASA aims to send the first humans in the years ahead.

First, researchers spotted geological features on Mars that could be the remnants of a dried-up ocean. Then, another team of researchers studying a sample from NASA's Curiosity rover discovered seven organic molecules that had never before been observed on Mars.

Neither discovery directly confirms that anything ever lived on Mars, but both finds help further point the needle in that direction.

Here's everything to know about the most recent Mars discoveries ahead of NASA's next space mission to the red planet.

'Bathtub ring' is evidence of ancient Mars ocean

Because water is a key ingredient for life to exist, researchers have long been interested in finding signs of it on Mars and other planets in our solar system – and beyond.

While Mars is widely believed to have once had some amount of water on its surface, it's been unclear just how much or in what kind of body it formed. Now, researchers in a new study published April 15 in the journal Nature believe they have evidence of no mere lake or stream, but a giant ocean that millions of years ago was present on Mars.

Informed by models of oceans on Earth, California Institute of Technology geologists Abdallah Zaki and Michael Lamb studied topographic data of Mars taken by orbiters to find a flat band of land like a continental shelf, suggesting an ocean once roiled in the Martian northern hemisphere. Covering a staggering third of the planet's surface, the feature wraps "the contours of where land meets ocean like a ring that remains around a drained bathtub," according to a press release announcing the find.

And where there is (or was) water, there could also be life.

NASA's Curiosity rover finds new evidence of past life on Mars

Which brings us to the next recent Martian discovery.

Six years after NASA's car-sized Curiosity rover collected, drilled and analyzed a rock sample in 2020, the results are in: The sample includes "the most diverse collection of organic molecules ever found on the Red Planet," NASA said in a press release.

The findings, published in an April 21 study led by University of Florida geologist Amy Williams in the journal Nature, reveal that of the 21 carbon-containing molecules identified, seven were detected for the first time on Mars.

Unfortunately, scientists can't determine whether these organic molecules were created biologically – suggesting past life on Mars – or whether they're the result of simple geologic processes. But the discovery alone "renewed confirmation that ancient Mars had the right chemistry to support life," NASA said.

It's far from the first time that Curiosity or its Perseverance cousin have found evidence of ancient Martian life.

Scientists in February announced that Curiosity had detected organic compounds on a rock sample that on Earth are most often produced by living things. And in September 2025, NASA announced that a rock sample collected by Perseverance was found to possibly be preserving evidence of ancient microbial life, known as a biosignature.

NASA to send nuclear-powered vehicle to Mars in 2028

The recent discoveries come as Curiosity and its fellow Perseverance rover continue to scour very different parts of the Martian surface. While NASA is focused on its Artemis campaign to return humans to the moon, the agency also looks to send the first astronauts in the years ahead to the red planet – putting boots (and eyes) directly on the ground.