NASA’s Mars rover makes ‘fantastic’ find in search for past life

Since July, NASA’s Perseverance rover has drilled and collected four slim cores of sedimentary rock, formed in what was once a river delta on Mars. They are the first of this type of rock to be gathered on another world — and scientists are excited because at least two of the cores probably contain organic compounds, which, on Earth, are often associated with living things. If all goes well, the samples will be the first ever returned from Mars. They will be picked up by another spacecraft and brought back to Earth no earlier than 2033.