The Mars Rover Just Found One Of The Major Keys To Life! joe July 3, 2022 Uncategorized Rock samples from Mars taken by NASA’s Curiosity rover reveal indicators of essential components for life that are comparable to those found on Earth. Gale crater, the location of a former lake on Mars, was sampled by the venerable Curiosity Rover. According to a NASA release, scientists were able to estimate the total amount of organic carbon in Martian rocks using these samples for the first time. All known forms of life need organic carbon, which is carbon bonded to a hydrogen atom, in order to build and use organic compounds. However, in addition to non-living sources like meteorites and volcanic eruptions, organic carbon can also come from them as well. The new results reveal the overall quantity of carbon in organic compounds, even though earlier research had only found lesser amounts of organic carbon in Martian rock samples. In 2014, I placed rock samples in my SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars) instrument to measure the chemical compounds. After years of careful analysis from my team, they measured the total organic carbon in those Martian rocks for the first time. https://t.co/LeWXQ0nBny — Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) June 28, 2022 Jennifer Stern, the lead author of the study and a space scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said in the statement: “Total organic carbon is one of several measurements [or indices] that help us understand how much material is available as feedstock for prebiotic chemistry and potentially biology,” “We found at least 200 to 273 parts per million of organic carbon. This is comparable to or even more than the amount found in rocks in very low-life places on Earth, such as parts of the Atacama Desert in South America, and more than has been detected in Mars meteorites.” The Sample Analysis at Mars Instrument, which uses oxygen and high heat to convert the organic carbon samples into CO2, was used by the rover to analyze the pieces. Additionally, the equipment determines the precise isotope ratio and the amount of organic sample present in the sample from the CO2 it produces. This information helps scientists understand the origin of carbon. Stern further stated that the isotopic composition can only tell us what portion of the total carbon is organic carbon and what portion is mineral carbon, “While biology cannot be completely ruled out, isotopes cannot really be used to support a biological origin for this carbon, either, because the range overlaps with igneous (volcanic) carbon and meteoritic organic material, which are most likely to be the source of this organic carbon.” In her conclusion, she noted that in addition to organic carbon, scientists had discovered other clues that Gale Crater may have once supported life, such as the presence of chemical energy sources and chemical compounds like nitrogen, sulphur, and oxygen, and that the area would have provided a habitable environment for life if it had ever existed there. “Basically, this location (Yellowknife Bay formation of Gale crater) would have offered a habitable environment for life, if it ever was present,” said Stern.’ Watch it here: Youtube/Inquirer Sources: Dailywire, Scitechdaily, Iflscience Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published.CommentName* Email* Website Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ