NASA’s Curiosity Rover Has Made a Significant Discovery in the Search for Alien Life
1 min read
Summary
In what has been described as a “significant finding” in the search for alien life, Nasa’s Curiosity rover has discovered the largest ever organic molecules on Mars.
The Sample Analysis at Mars (Sam) instrument detected carbon-containing compounds, or hydrocarbons,logged in a 3.7 billion-year-old rock called Cumberland.
Although not definitive evidence of past or present life on Mars, hydrocarbons could be related to biological activity on Earth.
Scientists were originally looking for evidence of amino acids, which are the building blocks of life on Earth and help to form proteins.
Curiosity’s discovery has doubled the number of carbon atoms found in a single molecule on Mars and suggests that more complex organic molecules may also be present.
