Mars

Diverse Organic Molecules On Mars Revealed By The First SAM TMAH Experiment

By Keith Cowing
Status Report
Nature Communications via PubMed
May 1, 2026
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Diverse Organic Molecules On Mars Revealed By The First SAM TMAH Experiment
SAM is the most complex instrument ever sent on a planetary mission. Principal Investigator Paul Mahaffy leads the project from Goddard in collaboration with 51 co-investigators and 28 institutions including the University of Paris and The French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique that provided the Gas Chromatograph. Credit GSFC.

The search for organic matter on Mars has rapidly evolved in the past decade with simple aromatic, S-heterocycles, and aliphatic organic molecules detected in Gale crater.

We report the in situ detection of >20 organic molecules from clay-bearing sandstones in the ~3.5-billion-year-old Knockfarrill Hill member of Glen Torridon, Gale crater, by the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument suite onboard the Curiosity rover.

These molecules were liberated by the onboard tetramethylammonium hydroxide wet chemistry experiment. Diverse thermochemolysis products, including benzothiophene, methyl benzoate, and single and dicyclic aromatic molecules were released and detected by evolved gas analysis and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Results indicate the experiment successfully released molecules preserved in ancient macromolecular or free organic matter within Martian bedrock despite ~3.5 billion years of diagenesis and radiation exposure.

Astrobiology,

Keith Cowing

Biologist, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Biologist and Payload integrator, Editor of NASAWatch.com and Astrobiology.com, Lapsed climber, Explorer, Synaesthete, Former Challenger Center board member 🖖🏻

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