Organic molecules revealed on Mars by Curiosity's new kind of experiment
rael-science
Organic molecules revealed on Mars by Curiosity's new kind of experiment
by Bob Yirka , Phys.org
An
international team of space researchers working with NASA's Goddard
Space Flight Center has found previously unknown organic molecules on
Mars using a new experiment aboard the Curiosity rover. The results are
published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
To
date, NASA has sent nine orbiters and six rovers to Mars, in part to
learn more about the possibility of extraterrestrial life. To that end,
the planet has been photographed with various types of cameras. More
recently, rovers have dug down into the Martian soil to collect samples
for analysis. The goal of such work is to learn more about the chemicals
in the soil on or near the surface, but more specifically, to see if it
contains organic molecules. If so, they could be evidence of life or
prior life on the planet. The rovers have found organic molecules, but
samples were not sufficient to claim they were produced or used by a
living organism. Thus, the search continues. In this new effort, after
the Curiosity rover's drill stopped working in 2017, the control team
chose to conduct a type of experiment that had not been done by the
rover before.
Curiosity
carries an instrument called the Sample Analysis at Mars, an array of
cups that hold samples of soil as they are being analyzed. The array has
74 cups—all but nine of them are empty most of the time. The other nine
hold chemicals that are used to conduct other kinds of experiments.
Because of the drill malfunction, the team at NASA chose to drop soil samples into the cups containing the chemicals and then to analyze the chemicals released due to reactions. The researchers found organic molecules in the soil that
had never been seen on Mars before. While the new experiment did not
find evidence of life, it did show that there are other novel ways to
test for it on Mars and other planets.
