NASA rover finds evidence of carbon-based chemistry in Martian crater

[Judi Lynn]

The Red Planet may be home to a much more complex geochemical cycle than originally suspected.

BY LAURA BAISAS | PUBLISHED JUL 13, 2023 11:00 AM EDT

NASA’s Perseverance rover has detected evidence for an array of different organic molecules in Mars’ Jezero Crater. The findings are detailed in a paper published July 12 in the journal Nature. This latest discovery suggests that a more complex geochemical cycle may have existed on the Red Planet. It’s not direct evidence of living things on that world, but it shows that the planet had mineral processes like those on Earth that support life.

The Perseverance rover landed at Jezero Crater in February 2021, where the remains of an ancient Martian lake basin holds clays that may preserve organic materials—and could provide clues regarding the planet’s past habitability. The rover has already found evidence of past chemical reactions in the crater that could hold more clues to former Martian life.

Organic compounds are the building blocks of life. They are molecules composed of the element carbon and often have other elements such as nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur. Several types of organic molecules of Martian origin have been detected in meteorites that blasted away from Mars and landed on Earth, and in Mars’ Gale Crater.

The researchers believe that explanations for the origins of organic matter on the Red Planet include water-rock interactions or deposits on the surface of the planet through space dusts or meteors. The team notes that the “key building blocks for life may have been present over an extended period of time,” making this area of Jezero crater “potentially habitable.” The study authors also acknowledge that clusters of other compounds could be responsible for some of the rover’s detections, though an inorganic explanation for these signals is less likely than carbon-based chemistry.

More:
https://www.popsci.com/science/perseverance-rover-organic-matter-mars/