Martian rock samples collected by NASA's Curiosity probe contain signatures of key ingredients for
Organic carbon is essentialan element for the molecules created and used by all known forms of life. However, organic carbon can also come from non-living sources such as meteorites and volcanic eruptions. Although previous studies on Mars have detected organic carbon in smaller amounts, new measurements provide insight into the total amount of carbon in organic compounds.
“Organic carbon is one of the fewsigns that help us understand how much material is available as raw material,” said Jennifer Stern, lead author of the study and a scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. — We found at least 200-273 parts per million of organic carbon. This is comparable to or greater than the amount found in rocks in very uninhabited places on Earth, such as parts of the Atacama Desert in South America."
Mars is currently not the right environment forlife, but there is reason to believe that billions of years ago the Red Planet was similar to Earth, had a denser atmosphere and liquid water on the surface - the key ingredients for life.
The rover analyzed the fragments usingthe Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument, which uses oxygen and heat to convert organic carbon in samples to carbon dioxide. From the amount of carbon dioxide produced, the instrument calculates how much organic carbon was in the original sample and reports the exact isotope ratio, which helps scientists understand the source of the carbon.
“In this case, the isotopic composition can really tell us how much of the total carbon is organic and how much is mineral,” says Stern.
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