NASA said there may be organic salts on the surface of Mars. This discovery may change our understanding of the nature of the surface of Mars and help find microbes on another planet. These salts are the chemical residues of organic compounds previously discovered by the Curiosity rover,” NASA said in a statement.
A study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: “Planets” pointed out that iron, calcium , Oxalic acid and magnesium acetate may be decomposed into organic salts under the effects of radiation and oxidation of sediments on the surface of Mars. These salts may be formed by the residues of geological processes or ancient microbial life.
NASA said this discovery may be useful for the future The mission to Mars and the improvement of habitability are very helpful. In different environments, certain organisms on the earth can use these organic salts (such as oxalate and acetate) to obtain energy. Organic matter detection used by the Curiosity mobile station Methods include thermal extraction combined with mass spectrometry. The organic matter preserved in the Martian rock history is a valuable resource for studying the planet’s carbon cycle, their habitability and their potential biology over time.
Due to the mobile station moving the Martian soil And rocks, heat and release gas, so it is difficult for the portable chemical laboratory (SAM) to analyze the curious uterus to identify elements in the laboratory on Earth and directly on Mars, so it is difficult to analyze. Reveal The composition of these. However, Lewis and his team speculate that another Curiosity instrument that uses a different technique to observe Martian soil, the chemical and mineral instrument (chemical instrument for short) can detect certain organic salts (if present in sufficient quantities).
Perseverance rover traversing the Jazero crater are also looking for ancient microorganisms on the surface, and the future ExoMars rover can drill to a depth of two meters, and it will carry the instrument to analyze chemicals. At the same time, Perseverance is storing samples returned to the earth, which allows for deeper analysis of soil and surface biology in a clean room on the earth.
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