Rock on Mars possibly indicating Life

[BillTre]

NASA people are excited about a new (old actually) rock that their rover Perseverance found a few days ago.

Space.com article here.

Short NASA video:

 

[mfb]

No, NASA hasn’t found life on Mars yet, but the latest discovery is intriguing

The Perseverance rover has found a rock that has an interesting pattern. On Earth, that pattern is associated with life below the surface. Perseverance can't study the rock much more, but labs on Earth would have much better tools. This rock would be a great choice for a sample return mission.

 

[berkeman]

This rock would be a great choice for a sample return mission.

Are there provisions for such a return mission? It would be great if NASA has thought that far ahead. (docking mechanisms and procedures, return missions, etc.)

 

[BillTre]

Here is a short Science magazine news article on the rock find.
They are more skeptical about it as an indicator of past life and quote someone who suggests its a PR play for more money for a return the rocks mission.

Are there provisions for such a return mission? It would be great if NASA has thought that far ahead. (docking mechanisms and procedures, return missions, etc.)

Here is an older (last year) Science magazine news article about how the previously planned return the rocks mission (AKA Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission) estimated costs went from 4 billion to 11 billion dollars. That's a lot of money, even for NASA. This has caused the return mission to be put on hold or in a bureaucratic Siberia of some kind.

One of the previous rovers (now dead I believe) has an on board lab that would have been better able to analyze the rock's organic chemistry, but it was not needed since it was planned for the samples to be returned to earth labs where things would be better analyzed.