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Evidence for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons detected in sulfates at Jezero crater by the Perseverance rover

Nature Astronomy volume 9, pages 1648–1661 (2025) Cite this article

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Abstract

The search for organic molecules on Mars is central to understanding the planet’s past habitability and potential for ancient life. Although organic molecules have previously been detected on Mars, their nature, origin and preservation mechanisms remain debated. On the floor of the Jezero crater—an ancient delta–lake system on Mars—the Perseverance rover detected Raman features that may be due to organic compounds spatially associated with sulfates, although their origin is uncertain. Here we report the detection of similar Raman features in the Jezero fan top and attribute them to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons based on comparisons with laboratory data. We propose that these polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons may have formed through endogenous igneous processes and were subsequently preserved by sulfate precipitation. These findings align with previous studies on Martian meteorites and at Gale crater, underscoring the role of sulfates in preserving organic matter on Mars. Returning these samples to Earth would be key to assess their astrobiological relevance.

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Fig. 1: Raman features in the spectral ranges relevant to organics and co-located fluorescence in the QRT target.
The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.
Fig. 2: Raman features in the spectral ranges relevant to organics and co-located fluorescence in the PMT target.
The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.
Fig. 3: Raman features in the spectral ranges relevant to organics and co-located fluorescence in the DER target.
The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.
Fig. 4: Cross-comparison of the features of interest in the QRT and PMT targets with spectra of organo-sulfate analogues.
The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.
Fig. 5: Potential mechanisms for the presence of PAHs in sulfates in the QRT and PMT targets.
The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

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Data availability

The Mars 2020 mission data used for this study are available from the Planetary Data System (PDS) at https://pds.nasa.gov/. Data from the SHERLOC instrument are accessible at https://pds-geosciences.wustl.edu/missions/mars2020/sherloc.htm and available in CSV format organized by sol number at https://pds-geosciences.wustl.edu/m2020/urn-nasa-pds-mars2020_sherloc/data_processed/. Fundamental record image data acquired by the ACI are organized by sol number and accessible in IMG format at https://pds-imaging.jpl.nasa.gov/data/mars2020/mars2020_imgops/data_aci_imgops/sol/. DUV Raman and fluorescence spectra of organo-sulfate analogues and reference sulfates are publicly accessible through the Open Data Repository’s Data Publisher platform at https://doi.org/10.48484/SS9A-K041 (ref. 45).

Code availability

PIXLISE and PIQUANT are available as open-source software under the Apache License 2.0 at https://github.com/pixlise. The code for ACI colourization is available under the Apache 2.0 licence at https://github.com/nasa-jpl/ACI-colorization. The Loupe software is open source under the Apache 2.0 licence and available at https://github.com/nasa/Loupe. The SherlocFitAnalyzer script is open source and available at https://github.com/giopoggiali/SherlocFitAnalyzer.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the SHERLOC, PIXL and Mars 2020 science and engineering teams for acquiring the data that enabled this study. This research was supported by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) through ASI/INAF agreement number 2023-3-HH and by European Union—Next Generation EU through the PRIN MUR 2022 “Experimental and computational analogue studies to support identification of organics on Mars by the NASA Mars 2020 Perseverance rover”. In addition, T.F. was supported by INAF through Mini Grant Ricerca Fondamentale INAF 2022. Research efforts carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, by K.P.H., S. Sharma and K.U. were funded under a contract with NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) (80NM0018D0004). A.E.M. was funded by the Mars 2020 Program through Planetary Science Institute subcontract 1641753. K.C.B. was funded under a contract with NASA (80NSSC20K0235). N.C.H. and R.V.M. were supported in part by the ISFM Mission Enabling Work Package at the Johnson Space Center. W.P.B. and J.I.S. were supported in part by the ISFM Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry Work Package at the Johnson Space Center. E.A.C. was funded by grants from the Canadian Space Agency (22EXPCOI4) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (RGPIN-2023-03413). Y.P. was supported by funds to the SHERLOC instrument team. S. Siljeström was supported by the Swedish National Space Board (2021-00092). S.A.C. and R.C.W. were funded by JPL contract 1688677 for SHERLOC. M.E.M. was funded under a contract to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (1703459). The STARK group is acknowledged for high-performance computing facilities.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. INAF–Astrophysical Observatory of Arcetri, Florence, Italy

    Teresa Fornaro, Giovanni Poggiali, John Robert Brucato, Andrew Alberini, Sole Biancalani, Cristina Garcia-Florentino & Francesco Renzi

  2. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

    Sunanda Sharma, Kevin P. Hand, William J. Abbey & Kyle Uckert

  3. Carnegie Science Earth & Planets Laboratory, Washington, DC, USA

    Sunanda Sharma, Andrew Steele & Anushree Srivastava

  4. Amentum JETS II, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, USA

    Ryan S. Jakubek, Wayne P. Buckley, Nikole C. Haney & Carina Lee

  5. Photon Systems Incorporated, Covina, CA, USA

    Rohit Bhartia

  6. Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Ashley E. Murphy

  7. Department of Geology and Geophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Michael M. Tice

  8. Mars Exploration Program, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, USA

    Mitchell D. Schulte

  9. Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, USA

    Marc D. Fries, Eve L. Berger, Francis M. McCubbin, Richard V. Morris & Justin I. Simon

  10. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

    Andrew Alberini

  11. Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Daniela Alvarado-Jiménez, Valeria Lino & Nicola Tasinato

  12. IUSS, Scuola Universitaria Superiore Pavia, Pavia, Italy

    Daniela Alvarado-Jiménez

  13. Department of Geology and Geography, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA

    Kathleen C. Benison

  14. Department of Physics, University of Trento, Povo, Italy

    Sole Biancalani

  15. Italian Space Agency (ASI), Rome, Italy

    Sole Biancalani

  16. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

    Sole Biancalani

  17. Plancus Research, Severna Park, MD, USA

    Adrian J. Brown

  18. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA

    Adrian P. Broz

  19. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Adrian P. Broz, Stephanie A. Connell & Roger C. Wiens

  20. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA

    Denise K. Buckner

  21. Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Oak Ridge, TN, USA

    Denise K. Buckner

  22. Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, USA

    Aaron S. Burton

  23. Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Sergei V. Bykov

  24. Department of Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Emily L. Cardarelli

  25. Centre for Terrestrial and Planetary Exploration, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

    Edward A. Cloutis

  26. Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, Torrejón de Ardoz, Spain

    Felipe Gómez

  27. Texas State University, Houston, TX, USA

    Nikole C. Haney & Carina Lee

  28. NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, USA

    Nikole C. Haney & Carina Lee

  29. Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

    Paola Manini

  30. Framework, Silver Spring, MD, USA

    Michelle E. Minitti

  31. Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

    Yu Yu Phua

  32. Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    Nicolas Randazzo

  33. Natural History Museum, London, UK

    Joseph Razzell Hollis

  34. University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Francesco Renzi

  35. RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Stockholm, Sweden

    Sandra Siljeström

  36. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Amy J. Williams

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  1. Teresa Fornaro
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Contributions

T.F. analysed and interpreted both SHERLOC and laboratory analogue data, and wrote the manuscript and Supplementary Information. S. Sharma, R.S.J., A.E.M., R.B., A.A., S.B., C.G.-F., F.R. and S.V.B. measured the laboratory analogue samples with SHERLOC-like instruments. G.P. developed the SherlocFitAnalyzer script to analyse both SHERLOC and laboratory analogue data. M.M.T. analysed and interpreted the PIXL data. Y.P. provided the list of sulfate detections in the Jezero crater floor and fan. N.C.H. and R.V.M. performed the XRD characterization. J.I.S. and W.P.B. performed the ICP-MS analysis. V.L. and P.M. synthesized the two oxy-PAH polymers and the IOM. N.T. and D.A.-J. carried out the computational simulations. All co-authors participated in the data analysis, processing, discussion and interpretation of results and/or manuscript editing.

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Correspondence to Teresa Fornaro.

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Nature Astronomy thanks Fernando Rull and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 Cross-comparison of Raman spectra of the Quartier, Pilot Mountain and Dragon’s Egg Rock targets with reference sulfate spectra.

a, Average of Raman spectra of point 34 of HDR scan from sol 293 and points 45, 46 and 77 of detail 1 scan from sol 304 in Quartier (red), normalized on the main peak of calcium sulfate, compared with Raman spectra of: anhydrite, normalized on the main ν1 peak and offset for clarity (blue); magnesium sulfate mono/dihydrate, scaled with respect to Quartier’s hydration feature at 3185 cm−1 and offset for clarity (light blue); starkeyite, scaled with respect to Quartier’s hydration feature at 3399 cm−1 and offset for clarity (purple). Spectral region of interest shown in the inset. b, Average of Raman spectra of points 30 and 31 of detail 1 scan from sol 874 in Pilot Mountain (red), normalized on the main peak of calcium sulfate, compared with Raman spectra of anhydrite with minor bassanite, normalized on the main ν1 peak and offset for clarity (blue). Spectral region of interest shown in the inset. c, Average of Raman spectrum of the full map of detail 1 scan from sol 861 in Dragon’s Egg Rock (red), normalized on the main peak of calcium sulfate, compared with Raman spectra of bassanite, normalized on the main ν1 peak and offset for clarity (dashed light blue). Spectral region of interest shown in the inset.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information (download PDF )

Supplementary Figs. 1–15 and Tables 1–17.

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Fornaro, T., Sharma, S., Jakubek, R.S. et al. Evidence for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons detected in sulfates at Jezero crater by the Perseverance rover. Nat Astron 9, 1648–1661 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02638-z

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