NASA Mars Curiosity Rover Finds Organic Molecules on Martian Soil for the First Time; What Did Experts Say?

For the first time, NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover discovered organic compounds in a soil sample from the Red Planet.

According to Futurism, a team of scientists found the organic compounds in Martian soil through a wet sampling experiment. Experts did this test after the Curiosity rover malfunctioned and fell out of service after gathering soil samples from Mars' Bagnold Dune.

NASA Mars Curiosity Rover Says Red Planet's Soil Sample Have Organic Molecules

The Curiosity Rover had a disappointing hitch when scooping the soil sample, which turned out to contain organic compounds.

PopSci said NASA's Mars Rover suffered a system failure while collecting Martian samples from the Red Planet's Bagnold Dune.

Its drill, which had abruptly stopped operating, is to blame for the problem. Despite this, the team remained unfazed and opted to carry on with the task.

Curiosity Rover

NASA scientists went on to make a new method of retrieving the sample from the Martian planet's surface. Instead of drilling samples like what Perseverance did, Curiosity scooped soil samples.

According to Newsweek, the Curiosity Rover collected samples from the Bagnold Dunes region of Mars. The Gale Crater is home to a 22-mile stretch of dark grey dunes. Bagnold is the first dune system on another planet that humanity has ever investigated.

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Some of the soil samples were transported to Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument. New Scientist said SAM is equipped with 74 "cups," or holders, for analyzing Martian materials. The samples in most are empty, with the rover heating them to be analyzed, but nine include solvents that can dissolve the samples, allowing specialists to better determine their contents.

Mave Millan, the principal author of recent research that looked at a Mars Rover soil sample, claimed the "experiment was clearly effective." Millan, who is also NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center's postdoctoral fellow, said that they have not discovered biosignatures, which is what the experts are looking for.

Signs of Early Life in Mars

Biosignatures are supposed to provide evidence of ancient life on Mars. It comes as scientists investigate any evidence that supports the notion that Mars formerly supported life, despite its current frigid and dusty state.

Inverse said organic molecules, on the other hand, are noteworthy since they are recognized to be the building blocks of all living species on Earth.

One of the things that researchers are looking for when hunting for organic molecules on Mars has been identified. They hope to learn more about Mars' previous habitability and seek bioindicators.

However, the team is now aiming to locate the molecules' "parents" to better understand their origins, adding that this might be a result of geological processes.

Researchers detailed the study of their study, "Organic Molecules Revealed in Mars's Bagnold Dunes by Curiosity's Derivatization Experiment," in Nature Astronomy.