Perseverance Confirms Organic Carbon in 2 Martian Rocks, Deepening Questions About Ancient Life
Updated
Updated · SciTechDaily · Aug 5
Perseverance Confirms Organic Carbon in 2 Martian Rocks, Deepening Questions About Ancient Life
3 articles · Updated · SciTechDaily · Aug 5
Summary
A Science Advances study confirmed macromolecular organic carbon in two Bright Angel formation rocks in Jezero Crater, including the sampled rock Cheyava Falls, strengthening last year’s tentative biosignature report without proving biology.
SHERLOC mapped the material in fine-grained mudstones alongside carbonate and sulfate minerals, suggesting the organics were deposited or preserved during at least two water-linked events in Mars’ geologic history.
Microns below the surface, the find marks the shallowest reported detection of this kind of organic carbon on Mars, despite radiation and oxidants that normally destroy exposed organics.
More than 2,000 miles from Curiosity’s earlier detections in Gale Crater, the result hints that organics may once have been widespread in ancient Martian lakes and rivers.
Earth-based lab analysis remains the key test, because Perseverance and Curiosity lack the instruments needed to determine whether the carbon came from life or nonbiological chemistry.
Could the mysterious mineral patterns found alongside this shallow carbon be the ultimate proof of ancient Martian microbes?
How did complex organic carbon survive just microns below Mars' highly radioactive surface for billions of years?
With the sample return mission recently defunded, will humanity ever retrieve these potentially life-proving Martian rocks?
Perseverance’s Macromolecular Carbon Discovery: What Martian Organics Reveal—and Why Earth Analysis May Never Happen
Overview
NASA’s Perseverance rover made a historic discovery by detecting complex macromolecular carbon in Jezero Crater, using its advanced SHERLOC instrument. This breakthrough, along with earlier findings by Curiosity in Gale Crater, suggests that the building blocks for life were widespread across ancient Mars. However, Perseverance’s instruments cannot determine if this carbon is biological or not, so scientists need to bring the cached samples back to Earth for deeper analysis. Unfortunately, the US Congress cancelled the Mars Sample Return program due to soaring costs, leaving the samples stranded on Mars. Meanwhile, China is moving ahead with its own sample return mission, but its approach may not capture the same scientific diversity.