Pasadena, Gatra.com- NASA’s Curiosity rover has discovered previously unknown organic molecules, ammonia and benzoic acid, on Mars that may be indicators of ancient life. Thus the Daily Mail, 3/11.
The findings stem from a new technique used by the American space agency in 2017 when the rover’s drill stopped working, but the team redirected Curiosity to place the dirt sample into a cup already filled with the chemical mixture instead of the usual empty container.
Drill droppings show traces of benzoic acid and ammonia, both of which occur naturally in plants and animals, including humans.
Molecules are not biosignatures (biological markers), evidence of past or present life, but according to Maëva Millan, a postdoctoral fellow at NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center, they are good indicators of the presence of biological markers.
“One of the things we’re trying to find [ketika mencari] organic molecules on Mars is to understand the existence of Mars in the past and to find bioindicators, “Millan told Inverse.
Curiosity landed on the Red Planet on August 6, 2012 to investigate Mars’ climate and geology, and determine whether Gale Crater was once home to life.
Five years after landing, Curiosity was collecting soil samples from the Bagnold Dune, a 22-mile-long group of gray sand dunes within Gale crater, when its drill stopped working.
In order not to waste samples, Millan and his colleagues changed their route. There are 74 cups stored in Curiosity’s bowels that were used to hold soil samples – nine of which contained a chemical compound.
The findings stem from a new technique used by the American space agency in 2017, when the rover was exploring the Bagnold Dunes, when the rover’s drill stopped working, but the ground team switched Curiosity to place a dirt sample into a cup that had been filled with a chemical mixture.
While the researchers found no evidence of life, such as amino acids, the results proved the ‘wet chemical derivatization’ experiment was able to reveal the signs. “This experiment definitely works,” said Millan Inverse.
“Although we haven’t found what we’re looking for, biosignatures, we show that this technique is really promising,” he added.
Wet chemistry experiments will be used by the upcoming European Mars rover Rosalind Franklin launched in September 2022
The experiments ‘have expanded the inventory of molecules present in the Martian samples and demonstrated a powerful tool to better enable the search for polar organic molecules of biotic or prebiotic relevance,’ Millan and his team conclude in their paper published in Nature Astronomy.
It was originally scheduled to head to Mars last summer, but coronavirus restrictions delayed the tests needed to launch it. Like NASA’s Perseverance rover, which launches in July 2020, Rosalind Franklin will look for signs of ancient life on Mars.
The rover is equipped with a unique drill that will drill up to six and a half feet below the Martian surface and return samples for analysis.
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