NASA Rover Discovers Essential Ingredients for Life on Mars

On Thursday, June 7, it was announced that a NASA rover has successfully discovered rich veins of organic compounds on the surface of Mars (Bahrām). This discovery, along with the detection of seasonal fluctuations of methane gas in the Martian atmosphere announced on the same day, represents the most serious evidence regarding the potential existence of life on Mars in ancient times that has been obtained so far. According to Reuters, space scientists say that both of these discoveries made by the Curiosity rover may have non-biological explanations, and therefore the question regarding the possibility of life on Mars remains intriguing but unanswered. The rover has discovered three different types of organic molecules as a result of drilling approximately five centimeters deep into 3.5 billion-year-old sedimentary rocks. This drilling took place around the Gale impact crater, which apparently was the site of a dried-up lake from a time when Mars was warmer and wetter than the dry planet we know today. The Curiosity rover has also been able to measure a seasonal cycle in the amount of methane gas present in the lower layers of Mars' atmosphere. About 95% of the methane present in Earth's atmosphere is produced by biological activities, but scientists say it is still too early to link the methane present in Mars' atmosphere to life. Organic molecules are one of the main building blocks of life, although unrelated chemical processes can also produce these molecules. Scientists say it is still too early to determine whether these molecules on Mars arose from a biological process. Reuters adds that the possibility of life, even in microbial form, elsewhere in space is one of the most important scientific questions. Jennifer Eigenbrode, a NASA astrobiologist, said, 'Organic compounds have three sources. The first could be biological, which we are unaware of. The second source could be meteorites, and the last is geological processes, meaning the spontaneous formation of rocks.' This rover, which has helped scientists investigate the possibility of life on Mars, first definitively found organic molecules in the 'Gale' rock pit among the sediments of the dried-up lake in 2014, but the composition of those materials was more limited. Jennifer Eigenbrode states, 'The discovery of these materials in the rocks adds evidence related to the habitability of the planet Bahrām. It tells us that in this very ancient environment, conditions necessary for life and whatever is needed for life may have existed at some point; however, this evidence cannot prove that life itself existed.' Christopher Webster, a NASA atmospheric researcher, said that it is possible that microbes played a role in producing methane gas in Mars' atmosphere. He added, 'With this new information, we cannot rule out the role of microbial activity in the production of methane gas.' The amount of methane in the northern hemisphere of Mars at the end of summer is about 2.7 times the lowest seasonal level. Due to Mars' unfavorable weather and particularly severe solar bombardments on the planet's surface, scientists are especially surprised by the discovery of organic materials to this extent. Christopher Webster commented on the new discovery, saying, 'This evidence points to a very ancient time when water existed on Mars and primitive forms of life may have existed.' The results of this research have been published in the scientific journal Science.