NASA's Perseverance Rover Finds Organic Chemicals On Mars: Proof Of Life?
NASA's Perseverance rover is on a roll! Based on examination of Martian rocks, the rover has found the building blocks of life on the Red Planet. Perseverance was able to identify carbon-containing organic chemicals in some rocks from the Jezero Crater on Mars, NASA announced on December 15.
While this does not mean that life on Mars has been found, it points to potential of past life on Mars. These samples will be sent back to Earth in a joint NASA-ESA mission before 2031.
"This is a question that may not be solved until the samples are returned to Earth, but the preservation of organics is very exciting," Luther Beegle of NASA said in a statement.?Beegle pointed how these samples would be studied for many years when they're returned to Earth.
Jezero Crater was identified as the primary site for Perseverance as the crater was home to a big lake and a river delta in ancient times on Mars.
Perseverance's goals on Mars
The rover is on a mission to achieve two goals - firstly, to search for signs of ancient life on Mars and secondly, to send these material back to Earth to be studied by scientists.
Perseverance is equipped with 43 titanium tubes, out of six have been used and sealed since the rover landed on Mars in February.?
Also read:?Elon Musk Says He'll Take Humans To Mars In Five Years, But Is It Possible?
Four of these tubes contain cored rock samples, one has a sample of Martian atmosphere and another tube contains "witness" material to help scientists spot any contaminating compounds that Perseverance may have picked up from Earth.
Perseverance has made other important discoveries too. The rover's SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals) instrument was able to identify organics at the Curiosity rover's landing site.??
Also read:?Humans Can Survive On Mars If Its Magnetic Field Is Fixed, Says New Study
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Citation
Wall, M. (2021b, December 16). NASA¡¯s Perseverance rover finds organic chemicals on Mars. Space.Com.?
