Key takeaways
- NASA’s Curiosity rover found organic matter in Gale Crater, an ancient lake site on Mars, indicating the presence of biological materials on the planet’s surface.
- The Martian organic matter showed a lower ratio of carbon-13 to carbon-12 compared to Earth’s, suggesting different atmospheric and geological processes.
- Researchers believe that Mars’ organic materials were likely formed through atmospheric processes rather than biological ones, involving the conversion of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide under solar UV light.
- The study suggests that Mars may have more organic matter than previously thought, which could be revealed by future missions.
- While the discovery doesn’t confirm past life on Mars, it provides clues about the planet’s history and encourages further exploration to understand its ancient environment.
Mars, a planet commonly associated with a dead, dusty expanse, has an astonishing quantity of biological materials on its surface. Despite the lack of apparent indications of life, the Red Planet’s geological features, such as deltas, lakebeds, and river valleys, clearly imply a history in which water flowed freely.
To solve the riddles of Mars’ history, scientists have been meticulously investigating sediments deposited around these formations, hoping to uncover clues about the planet’s early climatic conditions and the events that changed it throughout time.
Curiosity Rover’s Unexpected Discovery
A fresh and fascinating study headed by Professor Yuichiro Ueno of the Tokyo Institute of Technology and Professor Matthew Johnson of the University of Copenhagen shed light on an unusual discovery found by NASA’s Curiosity rover.
The rover retrieved materials from Gale Crater, an ancient lake thought to have formed some 3.8 billion years ago as a result of an asteroid strike.
Analysis of these sediments confirmed the existence of organic matter, but with substantially less carbon-13 isotope (13C) relative to carbon-12 isotopes (12C) than observed on Earth.
“On measuring the stable isotope ratio between 13C and 12C, the Martian organic matter has a 13C abundance of 0.92% to 0.99% of the carbon that makes it up,” Ueno says.
“This is extremely low compared to Earth’s sedimentary organic matter, which is about 1.04%, and atmospheric CO2, around 1.07%, both of which are biological remnants, and are not similar to the organic matter in meteorites, which is about 1.05%,” Ueno went on.
Carbon isotope dilemma
To further understand the difference in carbon isotope ratios, the researchers conducted laboratory experiments replicating various circumstances of the Martian atmosphere’s composition and temperature.
They observed that when 12CO2 is exposed to solar ultraviolet (UV) light, it preferentially absorbs UV radiation, resulting in its dissociation into CO deficient in 13C, leaving behind CO2 rich in 13C.
This mechanism, known as isotope fractionation, is also seen in the higher atmospheres of Mars and Earth, where UV irradiation from the sun causes CO2 to dissolve into CO with a lower 13C concentration.
In a decreasing Martian atmosphere, CO degrades into simple organic molecules like formaldehyde and carboxylic acid.
Creating biological stuff from Mars in the laboratory
Using model simulations, the researchers determined that in an environment with a CO2 to CO ratio of 90:10, a 20% conversion of CO2 to CO would result in sedimentary organic matter with δ13CVPDB values of -135.
Furthermore, the residual CO2 would be enriched in 13C, with δ13CVPDB values of +20‰.
These values are closely related to those found in sediments studied by the Curiosity rover and approximated from a Martian meteorite, showing that the primary source of organic matter production on early Mars was an atmospheric process rather than a biological one.
“If the estimates in this study are true, there might be an unexpected quantity of organic material in Martian sediments. This predicts that future expeditions to Mars might uncover large quantities of organic matter,” says Professor Ueno.
Mars Organic Matter and Future Exploration
The study’s results have important ramifications for our knowledge of Mars’ history and the possibility of future discoveries.
As scientists continue to examine the Red Planet, they may find further signs of organic materials, offering information on the intricate processes that molded the Martian ecosystem billions of years before.
While the discovery of organic materials does not prove the possibility of previous life on Mars, it does provide a fascinating indication, prompting us to learn more about the planet’s history.
As scientists continue to explore the secrets of Mars, we get closer to resolving the age-old question: Did life exist beyond Earth?
The entire work was published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
