Scientists using data from NASA’s Curiosity rover measured the total organic carbon – a key component in the molecules of life – in Martian rocks for the first time.
Curiosity
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs
Mars Curiosity Detects Organic Molecules
Organic molecules revealed in Mars’s Bagnold Dunes by Curiosity’s derivatization experiment, Nature Astronomy ” .. No amino-acid derivatives were detected. However, chemically derivatized benzoic acid and ammonia were detected. Mass […]
Posted inMars, Press Release
Curiosity Rover Finds Biologically Useful Nitrogen on Mars
A team using the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite aboard NASA’s Curiosity rover has made the first detection of nitrogen on the surface of Mars from release during […]
Posted inMars, Missions & Hardware, Press Release
First X-ray Diffraction Measurements on Mars
In 2012 the Mars Science Laboratory landed in the fascinating Gale crater. The Gale crater is of such great interest because of the 5.5 km high mountain of layered materials […]