NASA’s Curiosity Rover has made a groundbreaking discovery on Mars, uncovering long carbon chains in a 3.7-billion-year-old rock sample. The largest molecules ever found on Mars contain up to twelve carbon atoms and are similar to those produced by biological processes on Earth.
The rover discovered these molecules, called hydrocarbon strings of decane, undecane, and dodecane, in a sample collected from Yellowknife Bay, a dried-up Martian lakebed. The finding suggests that the planet may have evidence for ancient life, as similar molecules can be produced by biological activity on Earth.
The long carbon chains are thought to have originated from fatty acids, which can form without biological input. However, their existence on Mars indicates that signs of life may still be present in the planet’s soil.
The Curiosity Rover analyzed the sample using its Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument and detected the molecules after years of previous analysis failed to find them. The discovery was made by accident while searching for amino acids, a building block of proteins.
Researchers suggest that the molecules may have broken off from fatty acids and are consistent with life-forming chemistry on Earth. While non-biological processes can produce similar molecules, the longest chain detected has 12 carbon atoms, which is unusual.
The detection confirms that Curiosity can identify these types of molecules and that they can remain preserved for billions of years in the Martian environment. The researchers hope to one day bring samples of Martian soil back home to analyze them further and solve the mystery of life on Mars.
Source: https://www.livescience.com/space/mars/curiosity-rover-finds-largest-carbon-chains-on-mars-from-3-7-billion-year-old-rock