Evidence of life found on Mars
1Evidence of life found on Mars
NASA's rover Perseverance has found organic matter, which provides the biggest evidence of past life on Mars. “We are at the heart of the research,” said the NASA expert.
The American Aeronautics and Space Agency's (NASA) exploration vehicle "Perseverance" has discovered "organic matter" as the biggest proof that life can exist on Mars.
Perseverance has analyzed, drilled and collected data on numerous samples over the past year and a half on Mars.
The vehicle's primary task, which spent most of its time exploring an ancient lake bed called the Jezero Crater, was to find signs of microbial life that may have existed billions of years ago. For this, the rocks and their structures in an area of 45 kilometers wide, which is considered the main location, were examined.
ORGANIC MATERIALS TREASURE
NASA reported that Perseverance, who studied the Jezero Crater on Mars, found a "treasure" of organic matter in samples collected. It has been reported that Perseverance, which landed on Mars in February, has collected 4 samples from the old river delta since July 7, bringing the total number of rock samples it obtained to 12.
Scientists said that the organic matter discovered in a rock sample last showed that there was a habitable environment on this planet 3.5 billion years ago. "The rocks we investigated in the delta have the highest concentration of organic matter we've found," said Ken Farley, a Perseverance expert at the California Institute of Technology. NASA Head of Science Thomas Zurbuchen, with the discovery in question, "Is there life on Mars?" He stated that they were “at the very heart” of the research on the question. Scientists said, “Perseverance has found organic matter on Mars before. However, this time it is very important that the organic matter he discovered is found in a region where life may have existed in the past, and in a sedimentary type rock that also preserves fossils on Earth."
Perseverance dug up part of Wildcat Ridge's surface to dust before taking a sample. Analysis of the samples identified a class of organic molecules associated with sulfate minerals, according to NASA's press release.
Perseverance's analysis not only showed organic molecules, what the team found is also the largest concentration of organic matter ever during the mission.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
Organic molecules make up organic substances. By definition of life, it is considered an important indicator of the substances produced by living organisms.
However, Perseverance is not equipped to give a definitive answer if there is evidence of ancient microbial life on Mars.
"The truth is, it's very difficult to prove that there was life on another planet," Farley said at the NASA press conference. For this, we need to examine Martian rocks up close and in Earth laboratories ourselves.” he said.
NASA has a plan to get Perseverance samples in 2030. If all goes well these samples could be sent to Earth in 2033