More signs of life on Mars? NASA’s incredible new rover find

For nearly three years, NASA’s Perseverance rover has been scouring Mars to find out if life ever existed on the planet. He had already found signs of soggy sand and rushing rivers, bone-shaped rocks, strange objects, and the like. However, their latest discovery is something really cool: evidence of organic molecules that could point to life on Mars.

NASA’s rover has been exploring Mars’ Jezero crater since landing in February 2021. The 45-kilometer-wide crater once housed a large lake and a river delta and the rover scours it for signs of ancient life due to the presence of a diverse range of minerals.

The recent discovery of organic molecules, a scientific term for the elements that make up living things got astrobiologists excited because it could mean Mars once had life.

The research, led by a team of scientists including University of Florida astrobiologist Amy Williams, was recently published in the nature review . The results show the presence of a more complex geochemical cycle on the Red Planet than previously believed, suggesting the existence of several different reservoirs of possible organic compounds.

Organic compounds consist of carbon and can have other elements such as oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur. In the Máaz and Séítah crater formations on Mars, many different classes of organic molecules have been found that occur in a variety of patterns in space.

Scientists suggest that these models of organic molecules could be related to aqueous processes this could signal the presence of “key building blocks for life” on the red planet.

Amy Williams, an expert in organic geochemistry, has been at the forefront of finding the building blocks of life on Mars. “The potential detection of various organic carbon species on Mars has implications for understanding the carbon cycle on Mars and the potential of the planet to sustain life throughout its history” said.

To make the discovery, the scientists used a special instrument called Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC), which includes cameras, spectrometers and a laser attached to Perseverance’s robotic arm. SHERLOC helps to see how minerals and organic compounds are organized, which could show signs of life.

However, organic matter can be formed by various processes, not just related to life. They could also be produced by non-biological processes such as geological processes and chemical reactions, which are favored by the origin of these possible Martian organic compounds.

Thus, before assuring that there was life on Mars, scientists must be sure that the molecules did not originate from non-living processes. For this, the team must eliminate all sources of non-biological origin and will work to further examine the possible sources of these molecules.

Eventually, on-site samples collected by Perseverance will be returned to Earth by future missions, but it will be a complex and ambitious process that will span many years.

Still, finding organic molecules on Mars will help imagine what the Red Planet’s past might have been like and answer questions like what kind of life was it, or what happened to it?

According weather.com scientists even think that the newly discovered molecules could reveal chemical species that have not yet been detected by humans. But to find out, it is necessary to study the samples in a more precise and advanced way on Earth.

As the Perseverance rover continues to explore Mars, there will be more clues to help understand what happened on Mars. The search has only just begun. “We’re only scratching the surface of the organic carbon story on Mars,” Williams said, “And it’s an exciting time for planetary science!”