The data from the Curiosity rover helped scientists to conclude that there are large reserves of organic matter on the surface of Mars.
Scientists from the Curiosity team, led by Paul Mahaffy, have found the second largest organic resource on Mars. This time the samples were from another region of Mars – the so-called Bagnold dunes.
In this area, the rover previously found deposits of rocks formed in hot springs. The researchers suggested that life could exist here. Therefore, researchers from the Curiosity mission sent the rover to study the Bagnold dunes, as well as collect soil and rock samples.
A device for conducting experiments on the so-called wet chemistry is installed directly on Curiosity – this is when soil samples are crushed and washed with a special substance that dissolves complex organic matter and allows you to determine its existence using a chromatograph.
As a result, in new samples, scientists found benzene compounds, various amines, phenols, phosphoric acid, as well as two dozen complex organic molecules. Their exact composition is still unknown due to the limited capabilities of the laboratory at Curiosity.
We did not find amino acids in these soil samples, but there are derivatives of benzene and ammonia, phenols, phosphoric acid, and high molecular weight compounds. We have not yet established the origin of these substances.
Research text
The authors hope that later they will be able to find traces of amino acids and other substances that became the basis for the emergence of Martian life.
