NASA's Perseverance rover is hunting for signs of life on Mars - and NASA will share initial results

NASA's Perseverance rover has officially started its search for ancient life on Mars and the US space agency will share the initial findings on Wednesday. According to a NASA statement, the $2.7 billion rover is using its seven-foot mechanical arm to analyze Martian rocks with X-rays and ultraviolet light. This allows the rover to'zoom in for closeups' of tiny segments of rock that may show signs of microbial activity in the past. Known as PIXL (Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry), the X-ray instrument on the arm'delivered unexpectedly strong science results' while it was still being tested, a period that lasted 90 sols (Martian days), according to Abigail Allwood, PIXL's principal investigator at NASA JPL. NASA's Perseverance rover has started its search for ancient life on Mars. A news conference will be held on Wednesday at 1 p.m. EST to discuss the results PIXL, one of seven instruments aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, is equipped with light diodes circling its opening to take pictures of rock targets in the dark'We got our best-ever composition analysis of Martian dust before it even looked at rock,' Allwood said.