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NASA's Curiosity Rover Detects Largest Organic Molecules Yet Found on Mars
NASA's Curiosity rover has detected the largest organic molecules ever found on Mars -- decane, undecane, and dodecane -- suggesting that complex prebiotic chemistry may have occurred in the planet's ancient lakebeds. The findings have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sci...
NASA's Curiosity rover has detected the largest organic molecules ever found on Mars-- decane, undecane, and dodecane -- suggesting that complex prebiotic chemistry may have occurred in the planet's ancient lakebeds. But fatty acids also can be made without life, through chemical reactions triggered by various geological processes, including the interaction of water with minerals in hydrothermal vents. The new study also increases the chances that large organic molecules that can be made only in the presence of life, known as "biosignatures," could be preserved on Mars, allaying concerns that such compounds get destroyed after tens of millions of years of exposure to intense radiation and oxidation.
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