Cheyava Falls is a rock discovered on Mars in 2024 by NASA's Perseverance rover during its exploration of the Jezero crater. This rock, named after a Grand Canyon waterfall, has drawn significant attention due to its potential as an indicator of ancient life on Mars. The rover's instruments detected organic compounds within the rock, which are essential for all known life. [1] [2] According to NASA, Cheyava Falls "possesses qualities that fit the definition of a possible indicator of ancient life". [3] [1]
Cheyava Falls is characterized by large white calcium sulfate veins and bands of reddish material, indicative of hematite, a mineral that gives Mars its rusty color. The veins are "filled with millimeter-size crystals of olivine". [1] The rock features millimeter-sized off-white splotches surrounded by black material, resembling "leopard spots." These spots contain iron and phosphate, elements often associated with microbial life. [1] [3] [4] [5] According to a seven-step scale called Confidence of Life Detection (CoLD) used by NASA astrobiologists, the rock is on Step One, showing "possible signal" of life. [1]
The "arrowhead-shaped rock" was found at the northern edge of Neretva Vallis area, [6] on 18 July 2024, [7] and is 3.2 by 2 feet (0.98 m × 0.61 m). [1] On 21 July 2024, Perseverance took a sample of the rock that became its 22nd core sample that can be delivered to Earth by a future mission. [1] The rover made a "selfie" with a rock on 23 July 2025. [8] The sample from Cheyava Falls is called the "Sapphire Canyon", [9] while the formation where Cheyava Falls were found is called the "Bright Angel", a set of rocky outcrops on the northern and southern edges of Neretva Vallis, an ancient river valley 400 metres (1,300 ft) wide that was carved by water rushing into Jezero crater. The rock was studied by two instruments: the Planetary Instrument for X-Ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) and Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC). [10]
On 10 September 2025, NASA reported a "potential biosignature" finding in Cheyava Falls: organic-carbon–bearing mudstones hosting sub-millimetre nodules and millimetre-scale reaction fronts enriched in ferrous iron phosphate and iron sulfide, consistent with vivianite and greigite imply low-temperature, post-depositional redox reactions between organics and Fe–S–P minerals; these textures and chemistries qualify as potential biosignatures but requiring further study and sample return for confirmation. [10] [11] On Earth, vivianite is frequently found in sediments, peat bogs, and around decaying organic matter. Similarly, certain forms of microbial life on Earth can produce greigite. [10]
If confirmed, this biosignature would mean that there were a microbial life on Mars around 3.5 billion years ago. According to geologist Michael Tice: [12]
If the Cheyava Falls results ultimately do lead to the proof of ancient life on Mars ... that means two different planets hosted microbes getting their energy through the same means at about the same time in the distant past. That could suggest that early life learns how to survive in this way regardless of where it originated.
The same organic materials can be produced by non-biological processes which require "hot conditions" like volcanic activity; the rock location suggests that it was underwater, and there is no detected past volcanic activity in that region. [12]
NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return mission was designed to collect the samples collected by Perseverance and deliver them to Earth. The mission was deemed "financially unsustainable" and was proposed to be cancelled by the Trump administration. [13]
