VERDICT: TRUE The core claim — that lightning (electrical discharges) has finally been found on Mars after decades of research — is confirmed by NASA's Perseverance rover. The discovery was published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature on Nov. 26, 2025. Two claim-linked findings: 1. NASA's Perseverance rover, using the SuperCam microphone, recorded 55 distinct electrical discharge events ("micro-lightning") on Mars — 16 when dust devils passed directly over the rover and 35 more during regional dust-storm convective fronts. This is the first direct confirmation of a phenomenon theorized for decades (via the triboelectric effect, where swirling dust grains generate static sparks). 2. The discharges are small "micro-lightning" — far smaller than Earth lightning bolts due to Mars's thin atmosphere (roughly the level of a static carpet spark) — but they are genuine electrical discharges with associated shock waves ("mini-sonic booms"), confirming the long-suspected phenomenon and with implications for Martian atmospheric chemistry and habitability. Primary sources: - NASA JPL: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-rover-detects-electric-sparks-in-mars-dust-devils-storms/ - NASA (nasa.gov): https://www.nasa.gov/missions/mars-2020-perseverance/perseverance-rover/nasa-rover-detects-electric-sparks-in-mars-dust-devils-storms/ - Nature (peer-reviewed journal, research article "Detection of triboelectric discharges during dust events on Mars" by Chide et al.): https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03896-7 Note on framing: The claim is substantively accurate. The only nuance is that this is "micro-lightning" — small electrical sparks in dust devils and dust storms — not the dramatic, Earth-sized lightning bolts some TikTok viewers might imagine. But NASA itself confirms the phenomenon, so the claim holds as TRUE.