NASA’s Perseverance Rover spent three years exploring the floor of Jezero Crater, located just north of the Martian equator. This close-up look at what had previously been seen only from orbit revealed evidence of chemical reactions that shaped the planet billions of years ago. SETI Institute Senior Research Scientist Janice Bishop and University of Massachusetts Engineering Professor Mario Parente analyzed orbital hyperspectral images from the Compact Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, producing a detailed mineral map at the tens of meters scale of the crater documenting deposits of clays and carbonates signaling abundant water on ancient Mars. In a new Nature News & Views article, Bishop and Parente explore how these findings, combined with Perseverance’s confirmation of the minerals observed from orbit and discoveries of unusual minerals not detectable from orbit, suggest chemical reactions involving minerals, water, and possibly organic material could have created energy-rich environments on early Mars.

“Coordinating mineral detections from orbit at Mars with in situ detections by the Perseverance rover gives us a detailed look at ancient chemical reactions for a few small areas and a broader view across kilometers of the surface,” said Bishop.

Ten years after detecting the first gravitational wave, the detection of GW250114 – a ripple in spacetime which offers unprecedented insights into the nature of black holes and the fundamental laws of physics.

LIGO's improved sensitivity is showcased in a discovery of a black hole merger detected in January of this year. Scientists analyzing this signal were able to provide the best observational evidence yet for what is known as the black hole area theorem, an idea put forth by Stephen Hawking in 1971 that says the total surface areas of black holes cannot decrease.