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<\/a><\/figure>After years of lab work, the results are in: A rock that NASA\u2019s Curiosity Mars rover drilled and analyzed in 2020 includes the most diverse collection of organic molecules ever found on the Red Planet. Of the 21 carbon-containing molecules identified in the sample, seven of them were detected for the first time on Mars.<\/p>\n
Scientists have no way of knowing whether these organic molecules were created by biologic or geologic processes \u2014 either path is possible \u2014 but their discovery renewed confirmation that ancient Mars had the right chemistry to support life. What\u2019s more, the molecules join a growing list of compounds known to be preserved in rocks even after billions of years of exposure on Mars to radiation, which can break down these molecules over time.<\/p>\n
The findings are detailed in a new paper published<\/a> Tuesday in Nature Communications.<\/p>\n The rock sample, nicknamed \u201cMary Anning 3<\/a>\u201d after an English fossil collector and paleontologist, was collected on a part of Mount Sharp<\/a> covered by lakes and streams billions of years ago. This oasis surged and dried up multiple times in the planet\u2019s ancient past, eventually enriching the area with clay minerals, which are especially good at preserving organic compounds \u2014 carbon-containing molecules that are the building blocks of life and are found throughout the solar system.<\/p>\n Among the newly identified molecules is a nitrogen heterocycle, a ring of carbon atoms that includes nitrogen. This kind of molecular structure is considered a predecessor to RNA and DNA, two nucleic acids that are key to genetic information.<\/p>\n \u201cThat detection is pretty profound because these structures can be chemical precursors to more complex nitrogen-bearing molecules,\u201d said the paper\u2019s lead author, Amy Williams of the University of Florida in Gainesville. \u201cNitrogen heterorcycles have never been found before on the Martian surface or confirmed in Martian meteorites.\u201d<\/p>\n Another exciting discovery was benzothiophene, a carbon- and sulfur-bearing molecule that\u2019s been found in many meteorites. These meteorites, along with the organic molecules within them, are thought by some scientists to have seeded prebiotic chemistry across the early solar system.<\/p>\n The new paper complements last year\u2019s finding of the largest organic molecules<\/a> ever discovered on Mars: long-chain hydrocarbons, including decane, undecane, and dodecane.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is Curiosity and our team at their best. It took dozens of scientists and engineers to locate this site, drill the sample, and make these discoveries with our awesome robot,\u201d said the mission\u2019s project scientist, Ashwin Vasavada of NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. \u201cThis collection of organic molecules once again increases the prospect that Mars offered a home for life in the ancient past.\u201d<\/p>\n Both sets of findings were made with a sophisticated minilab called Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM<\/a>), located in Curiosity\u2019s belly. A drill on the end of the rover\u2019s robotic arm pulverizes a carefully selected rock sample into powder and then trickles it into SAM, where a high-temperature oven heats the material, releasing gases that instruments in the lab analyze to reveal the rock\u2019s composition.<\/p>\n In addition, SAM can perform \u201cwet chemistry,\u201d dropping samples into a small cup of solvent. The resulting reactions can break apart larger molecules that would be difficult to detect and identify otherwise. While the instrument has several such cups, only two contain tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH), a powerful solution reserved for the highest-value samples. The Mary Anning 3 sample was the first to be exposed to TMAH.<\/p>\n To verify TMAH\u2019s reactions with otherworldly materials, the paper\u2019s authors also tested the technique on Earth with a piece of the Murchison meteorite, one of the most studied meteorites of all time. More than 4 billion years old, Murchison contains organic molecules that were seeded throughout the early solar system. A Murchison sample exposed to TMAH was found to break much larger molecules into some of the ones seen in Mary Anning 3, including benzothiophene. That result verifies that the Martian molecules found in Mary Anning 3 could have been generated from the breakdown of even more complex compounds relevant to life.<\/p>\n Curiosity recently used its second and final TMAH cup while exploring weblike boxwork ridges<\/a>, which were formed by ancient groundwater. The mission team will be analyzing those results for a future peer-reviewed paper.<\/p>\n Built by NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, SAM is based on larger, commercial-grade lab instruments. Getting such complex equipment into the rover required engineers to dramatically shrink it down and develop a way for it to run on less power. Scientists had to learn how to heat up SAM\u2019s oven more slowly over longer periods in order to conduct some of these experiments.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a feat just figuring out how to conduct this kind of chemistry for the first time on Mars,\u201d said Charles Malespin, the instrument\u2019s principal investigator at NASA Goddard and a study coauthor. \u201cBut now that we\u2019ve had some practice, we\u2019re prepared to run similar experiments on future missions.\u201d<\/p>\n In fact, NASA Goddard has provided several components, including the mass spectrometer, for a next-generation version of SAM, called the Mars Organic Molecular Analyzer, for ESA\u2019s (European Space Agency) Rosalind Franklin Mars rover. A similar instrument, the Dragonfly Mass Spectrometer, will explore Saturn\u2019s moon Titan on NASA\u2019s Dragonfly rotorcraft. Both instruments will be able to perform wet chemistry with the TMAH solvent.<\/p>\n Curiosity was built by JPL, which is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASA\u2019s Science Mission Directorate in Washington as part of NASA\u2019s Mars Exploration Program portfolio.<\/p>\n To learn more about Curiosity, visit:<\/p>\n https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/mission\/msl-curiosity<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n News Media Contacts<\/strong> Karen Fox \/ Alana Johnson 2026-024<\/p>\n<\/a><\/figure><\/a><\/figure>Martian chemistry<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Trailblazing for future missions<\/strong><\/h2>\n
More about Curiosity<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Andrew Good
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-2433
andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n
NASA Headquarters, Washington
240-285-5155 \/ 202-672-4780
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov<\/a> \/ alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\nExplore More<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n