Organic molecules have been found on Mars by NASA’s Perseverance robot and could provide clues to the once-existence of life on Mars, according to a new study.
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Although this type of molecule has already been discovered on Martian meteorites and in other craters, this is the first time it has been found in Jezero Crater, which is thought to be a potential site where it may have had life, the Chron reports.
However, this is not enough to allow scientists to state without a doubt that life once existed on the red planet. However, this discovery leads them to suspect that a complex system of carbon circulation may have existed.
“These results suggest that there may have been a more complex geothermal cycle than has been described in previous analyzes on Mars,” we read in the study, published in the journal Nature.
The molecules involved include carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulfide.
They were observed with cameras on the rover.
“Although it cannot be said with certainty that Mars was once habitable, astrobiologists believe that the diverse presence of biological molecules is very important to a planet’s potential to support life,” an author of the study tells the Chron , dr Joseph Razzell Hollis.
The researchers say they could only confirm the origin of these molecules if the samples were transported to Earth for further laboratory analysis.