Organic compounds found in Mars crater
Miscellaneous / / April 05, 2023
Whether they are a sign of the existence of life in the past is too early to judge, but there is such a possibility.
In the new research, published in the journal Science, presents the results of an analysis of several stones found at the bottom of the Lake Lake crater on Mars, where the Perseverance rover landed in 2020. This find is indicative of significant interactions between rocks and liquid water in the past, and also provides evidence for the presence of organic compounds.
The very existence of organics (chemical compounds with carbon-hydrogen bonds) is not direct evidence of life, since these compounds can be formed as a result of non-biological processes. A future mission will be needed to give an accurate answer. return samples to earth.
The study was conducted by an international team of scientists led by experts from the California Institute of Technology. Science team member Professor Mark Sefton, who took part in the rover's operations on Mars and reviewed the results of the analysis of all samples, noted:
I hope that one day these rocks can be returned to Earth so that we can study the evidence for water and possible organic matter and find out if the conditions were suitable for life in early history Mars.
It was possible to detect organic matter using a special SHERLOC tool on the robotic arm of the rover. It has a Raman spectrometer that uses a special type of fluorescence to look for organic compounds and also to observe their distribution in a material.
Previously Perseverance already found organic compounds in the delta of an ancient river that flowed into the body of water known today as Lake Jezero Crater.
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