July 29, 1402 at 11:06
NASA’s Endurance rover has been able to find the building blocks of life in 10 rock samples. Do these organic compounds prove the existence of life in the past of Mars?
Mars has always been a hot topic for the life debate. Even before the spacecraft was se to the Red Planet and even in the early years of the probe’s landing, some claimed that advanced life existed on Mars. Although the published images denied this issue. Later, it was believed that Mars may have hosted life in the dista past. However, there is a difference of opinion about the advanced level of possible living organisms in the past of Mars.
Discovery of the building blocks of life by NASA’s Endurance Mars Rover
During all this time, NASA coinued to send the Mars rover and examine all possible evidence in order to provide a scieific and definitive answer. Recely, NASA’s Endurance rover was able to find a set of organic molecules in a Martian crater. Organic compounds are molecules that are composed of carbon and often coain other elemes such as hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur.
Previously, scieists were able to find several differe types of organic compounds originating from Mars in differe locations. Some of them were prese in meteorites that landed on Earth and were separated from the mother planet as a result of space collisions. Others were also discovered in the Gale Crater of Mars. NASA’s Curiosity rover has been exploring this crater since 2012.
The existence of these things on Mars is importa since these organic compounds are known as the building blocks of life. This has also attracted the atteion of astrobiologists. Of course, the problem is that the meioned organic compounds can be created as a result of other activities and do not necessarily mean the existence of life in the past of Mars.
Jezero Crater
If a normal person comes across the building blocks of life on Mars, they will immediately excitedly declare that life once existed on the Red Planet. But such a thing is not possible for scieists and they don’t wa to question their eire professional background with a claim. For this reason, planetary scieists are currely investigating all the reasons for the formation of these organic molecules. In other words, the existence of life is their last option.
Sunanda Sharma, a professor of planetary science at the California Institute of Technology, and her colleagues analyzed data from the Endurance rover. It was in the middle of wier last year that the NASA probe eered the Jezero crater. This crater was the site of an ancie lake and it was believed to have a high capacity to host life. Also, in the bed of the lake there were clay and other minerals that could protect the building blocks of life.
Of course, scieists have focused more on the data received from NASA’s SHERLOC scieific instrume. Sherlock is the first human instrume on Mars that can map and evaluate organic molecules in high detail. Building blocks of new life have also been discovered in two Martian rock samples named Máaz and Séítah.
When Sherlock’s ultraviolet light shines on organic compounds, they glow like substances placed under a black light. Sherlock can then ideify the molecules by examining the received wavelengths. In general, NASA’s Mars rover created 10 small dots in the indicated rocks and signs of organic molecules were found in all of them. These signs cover the time period between 2.3 billion and 2.6 billion years ago.
Thus, it can be said that the building blocks of life have existed for a very long time in more than one place on the surface of Mars. Ierestingly, scieists have been able to find differe models of organic compounds in these rock samples. This shows that the meioned compounds are the result of differe minerals and formation processes. Further investigation also revealed that many of them were formed in connection with water.
Of course, the data received from the Endurance rover also faces limitations. For example, scieists cannot accurately ideify organic molecules, and for this, samples must be returned to Earth. Despite this, the presence of compounds with differe formation processes in just one Martian crater has surprised scieists.
As you can see, scieists are reporting small and limited steps to ideify the building blocks of life on Mars, which is located near Earth. But on the other hand, not long ago, we saw the claim of one of the represeatives of the American Congress, who informed about the moveme of aliens to the earth. He had announced that our curre physics and knowledge is insignifica compared to them and that we are only attractive to aliens as a laboratory sample.
Which one do you believe in? NASA’s small and sure steps or the extraterrestrial and attractive claims of some people?
