Technologies

Huge ancient lake on Mars could be hiding fossilized signs of alien life

An ancient river delta at the site where NASA’s Perseverance rover landed might hold proof of past life on Mars.

Mars rovers may soon get a few new checkpoints to explore. Geologists say specific areas of an ancient river delta near where NASA’s Perseverance rover is stationed could hold fossilized evidence of extraterrestrial life.

Though they don’t expect to find any bug-eyed, green aliens, they do say vital organic compounds that suggest the presence of past life might exist there, waiting to be uncovered.

The crew of researchers behind the new study, published on Oct. 7 in the journal Science, dissected photographs taken by NASA’s recently landed Perseverance rover and uncovered ways that water flowed on Mars billions of years ago.

Their analysis unveiled spots on the arid orb that could house the highly sought-after biosignatures.

«We know that water was running on the surface at one point in the past, but we don’t know the duration of this activity,» said the study’s lead author, Nicolas Mangold, a geologist at the University of Nantes in France.

NASA’s Perseverance and the legend of Jezero

Once upon a time in space, Mars wasn’t a dry and dangerous world. It was covered in fresh rivers and lakes, a lot like those on Earth. And where there’s water, there could be life.

The vast bodies of H2O dried up eons ago as the formerly blue planet’s delicate atmosphere disappeared. This turned the environment into the inhospitable land we’ve come to know today.

Scientists have long been intrigued by the past existence of water on Mars. That’s why NASA sent Perseverance to traverse the planet in hopes of finding fingerprints of life. More specifically, they sent the rover to a huge crater called Jezero.

Believed to have once been flooded by water, the Jezero crater houses an ancient river delta — a delta that could be holding signs of alien life.

Deltas are landforms generated by rock and sediment swept up by a river’s flow. That stream often carries organic molecules and bacteria in its path, which means Jezero’s delta could easily contain an accumulation of such materials.

In other words, it could contain fossilized building blocks of life.

With that in mind, the study team’s proposed points of interest for locating evidence of life on Mars are all anchored by that delta. Initially, Mangold says, he hoped Perseverance would catch clear images of the spot, but unfortunately, Percy is a bit too far from the old river for that.

«Despite our disappointment,» he said, «we tried to look at the delta from a distance using our best cameras, and that gave really wonderful results.»

Clues from Kodiak

Surprisingly, the researchers didn’t find the prized areas just by analyzing Jezero’s main delta. They observed a nearby butte, or mound of rock, dubbed Kodiak. Kodiak is a part of the delta that’s slightly farther away.

«You can imagine that the delta was a little bit extended to the south and to the east, then erosion removed some of the material,» said Mangold. «But Kodiak is, by miracle, preserved.»

Kodiak serves as a geologic representation of the main river delta’s features. The stratigraphy, its rock layers, is relatively easy to see from afar, according to the researchers.

«By understanding the stratigraphy at Kodiak, it enables us to identify the deposits which are the most likely of interest for life preservation,» Mangold said.

He described the team’s first look at the photos as a «shock.»

«The first image is actually [one] where we can see boulders,» he said. «A delta fault … is not supposed to get some big boulders. It’s supposed to be consistent.»

Those boulders, he said, mean Jezero’s river delta is what’s called a Gilbert-type delta. These are formed with stronger water flow such as waves and tides, like that found in a lake. Thus, the team believes the river’s flow suddenly grew more intense during the course of its life.

«A big question for us,» Mangold said, «is to understand why there was this change of hydrological activity, because that is probably the signature of a change of climate.»

Kodiak also offered insight into how high the ancient body of water rose. Mangold says it would’ve been about 8,202 feet (2,500 meters) high, based on striations of rocks in the butte. That elevation varied over time, he says, which is also consistent with the idea the river advanced into a lake.

«That kind of observation is really key,» he explained. «Because it shows that there was a lake in Jezero, no doubt about that … in addition, the change from horizontal bedding to the faults, which are deep in layers, indicates the past water level.»

In the end, all this knowledge led Mangold’s team to isolate places where remnants of life could be found — deeper layers of Kodiak that likely have mud-dominated residue as well as sand grains. These types of sediments have been known to contain organic, life-sustaining molecules.

«Kodiak is not easily accessible by the rover because it’s a bit vertical facing,» Mangold noted.

«But we have identified some locations on the main delta fault where we can access similar types of layers. Those locations are some of our preferred targets for future rover travels.»

Technologies

MWC 2026 Updates: All the News, Reveals and Concepts Debuting in Barcelona

Technologies

NASA Pushes Back Next Moon Landing to Artemis IV Mission

NASA wants its Space Launch System rocket to stop requiring yearslong launch delays.

NASA is shaking up its Artemis program in a big way. The space agency held a press conference on Friday to discuss the continued delays of the Artemis II mission and address various changes to the program, which should help reduce the long waits between launches.

In light of multiple Artemis II delays, NASA believes putting humans back on the moon with Artemis III is too ambitious. It’s now delaying a moon landing until Artemis IV.

The Artemis II mission had been scheduled for launch in February but was pushed back after NASA’s SLS rocket failed its first wet dress rehearsal due to a hydrogen and helium fuel leak. The second test run was more successful, but NASA again delayed the launch due to «helium flow» issues discovered after the test, which required the rocket to return to the hangar for additional repairs.

The new launch date for Artemis II is no earlier than April 1.

Speeding up the Artemis missions

According to NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, the Artemis II delay stems from the SLS rocket’s extended launch cadence. Isaacman told reporters on Friday that after three years, skills can «atrophy,» and that asking personnel to stick around for years for the next launch is not tenable.

The key to more successful launches is to simply launch more frequently, he said.

«Launching a rocket as complex as the SLS every three years is not a path to success,» Isaacman said during the press conference. «When you are experiencing some of the same issues between launches, you take a close look at your process for remediation, whether you’re getting the true technical root cause, or are you getting close to it.»

For now, NASA is making changes to the agency and the Artemis missions, including shaking up personnel, standardizing the SLS rocket so it can launch more often and getting «back to the basics» to launch missions faster.

The ultimate goal is to have missions ready to launch every 10 months rather than every three years.

When will each Artemis mission launch now?

NASA still intends to put astronauts on the moon by 2028. Here is the new launch schedule for the Artemis missions:

Artemis II: Will launch no earlier than April 1, 2026, and will send astronauts around the moon to conduct tests.
Artemis III: Scheduled launch is mid-2027 to perform tests, connecting with lunar landers in low Earth orbit and testing gear that will go on Artemis IV.
Artemis IV: Scheduled launch is early 2028, and it will send humans back to the moon.
Artemis V: Could launch in late 2028 and send humans to the moon again. If Artemis III and IV are delayed, however, Artemis V will launch in 2029.

What will Artemis III do now?

Now that it’s no longer set to be the moon-landing mission, the new goal of Artemis III is to launch into low-Earth orbit, rendezvous with NASA’s lunar landers, perform tests and learn more about the effects of microgravity on lunar suits.

Per Isaacman, this is in response to concerns raised by NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel that the gap in mission objectives between Artemis II and Artemis III was too great, posing a risk to astronauts. The extra test flight will give NASA more data to better protect astronauts when they do go to the moon.

«We did not just jump to Apollo 11, we did it through Mercury, Gemini and lots of Apollo missions with a launch cadence (of) every three months,» Isaacman told reporters.

These discussions have been going on behind closed doors for quite some time, and NASA says that Congress and its commercial partners, like Boeing, are all-in on the new plan.

«As NASA lays out an accelerated launch schedule, our workforce and supply chain are prepared to meet the increased production needs,» said Steve Parker, Boeing’s defense, space and security president and CEO.

Technologies

The Clicks Communicator Will Have Keyboard Layouts in Arabic, French, German, Korean

After debuting it at CES, Clicks is expanding the BlackBerry-like Communicator phone with localized options ahead of MWC 2026.

The Clicks Communicator created a buzz after its CES reveal, with its focus on offering a communications-forward Android phone that looks like a BlackBerry, complete with a physical keyboard, prioritizing messaging and typing over everything else. It turns out the keyboard phone may have made a bigger splash than anyone realized. Clicks will offer multiple versions of the Communicator, each with a keyboard that supports a different language, in response to the overwhelming demand for the unreleased phone.

The company is expanding the Communicator to include models with keyboard layouts for Arabic, French (AZERTY), German (QWERTZ) and Korean. Clicks said interest in the Communicator was higher than the company expected, especially globally.

It’s clear there are still plenty of people who yearn for compelling, straightforward devices with smartly designed hardware that aim to make texting and writing easier. The timing of Click’s news strikes a stark juxtaposition, coming just days after Samsung launched its Galaxy S26 series, which features updates heavily steeped in AI.

«The response from customers around the world sends a strong signal that Communicator fills a gap for a phone purpose-built for communicating and taking action,» Clicks CEO Adrian Li Mow Ching said in a press release.

But there’s more good news ahead of MWC if you’re interested in getting a Clicks Communicator. The early-bird window to reserve one now runs through March 15. The phone costs $499, but an early reservation gets you a $100 discount and, when paid in full, a bundle of the phone and two additional back covers.
Clicks also shared that the phone will have a Dimensity 8300 chip (MT8883), which is in phones like the Xiaomi Poco X6 Pro. The MT8883 lets the company offer OS updates to the Communicator through Android 20 and five years of security updates.
I’m definitely excited to see where Clicks is headed with the Communicator, but should note that we’ve yet to see a working version of the phone. The Clicks Communicator will be available in Smoke, Clover and Onyx. Reservations are open, and people can select their preferred keyboard layout closer to when the phone ships later this year.