The Curiosity rover back to reveal new secrets of the past of Mars, as a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America confirms the finding of nitrogen fixed sediments in the form of nitrates (molecules composed of atoms of nitrogen and oxygen), something normally associated with life and the presence of microorganisms.
The research was made from data obtained by an instrument aboard the Curiosity called Sample Analysis at Mars, or SAM, which was responsible for analyzing three samples of Martian soil collected from different points. The fixed nitrogen is an essential element for life, as it serves for the formation of important molecules such as proteins and DNA.
This means that there was once life on Mars? Not necessarily. However, this opens the possibility that the planet has ever harbored necessary for the existence of some kind of body conditions. In fact, levels of nitrates found in samples are comparable to those that can be found in the most arid and driest places on Earth.
explains Francisco Javier Martín Torres, Spanish CSIC researcher and co-author:
“The availability of useful biochemical nitrogen, together with the conditions that we believe existed on Mars and the possible presence of organic compounds in the soil, reflecting a potentially habitable stage for some kind of living in the past. “
Now the next step is to study the formation of these nitrates, as well as the activity of microorganisms there are other reasons why the nitrogen sediments could have been set as he could have been the impact of a meteorite. Anyway, this is an important step to know the past of Mars and perhaps even to know if these chemical processes are currently taking place.
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