This is not the first time that organic compounds have been identified on Mars, but this time their concentration is higher than in previous samples. NASA says the samples will be brought back to Earth for further analysis

The Mars rover Perseverance reached the surface of Mars on February 18, 2021 in the so-called Jezero Crater. There, researchers believe that in the geological past of the planet Mars (3.5 billion years ago), there was once a delta, that is, a place where a Martian river flowed into a lake.

This contributed to the accumulation of sediments in the delta (which later became Lake Crater), making the area an ideal place to look for traces of life from Mars’ past, if life once existed on the nearby planet. Meanwhile, Mars has lost its atmosphere and liquid water has disappeared from the planet’s surface, but sedimentary rocks collected in Mars’ former delta can provide us with details about possible life forms in the planet’s past.

This is not the first time that Perseverance has identified organic compounds, even the Curiosity rover (another active American rover that has been on Mars since 2012) has obtained such results, but this is the first time that the concentration of these substances is so high. high

Organic compounds are substances that consist primarily of carbon and that usually also contain hydrogen and oxygen or other elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus, or sulfur. Although life as we know it cannot exist without these organic compounds, they can also be formed by processes that do not necessarily involve the existence of life.

The discovery was made during Perseverance’s exploration of sedimentary rock fragments called the Wildcat Ridge. Without providing details about the type of substances identified, NASA said that the presence of organic compounds, even in such concentrations, is not necessarily direct evidence of the existence of life in the past of the planet Mars, and that these samples need to be tested. analyzed much more thoroughly here on Earth.

This will become possible after 2033. The Perseverance rover has already taken 12 samples of Martian rocks (and will continue to collect other interesting samples) that it will place on the surface of Mars. Another rover, scheduled to go to Mars in 2028 as part of a US-European mission, will collect these samples using two Ingenuity-like helicopters, store them in a capsule, and then load them aboard a solid-fuel aircraft. rocket and send it into the orbit of Mars.

From there, the Martian sample capsule will be intercepted by a probe that will eventually reach Earth. Despite the sophisticated scientific instruments on board modern Mars rovers, the conditions offered by laboratories on Earth are clearly better.

Now there are three rovers on the surface of Mars: two American ones (Curiosity and Perseverance, the latter also accompanies the Ingenuity helicopter) and one Chinese one (Zhurong), an American stationary probe (InSight, but whose mission is coming to an end). ), and there are at least 8 artificial satellites in the orbit of the planet.