NASA’s Curiosity Rover Uncovers the Most Advanced Prebiotic Chemistry Yet on the Red Planet | UAP

NASA‘s Curiosity rover has collected the largest organic compounds ever discovered on the Martian surface, according to scientists who analyzed pulverized rock samples that could hint at the possibility of ancient life.

Most notably, the samples indicate more advanced prebiotic chemistry than any previous Martian samples. Curiosity’s onboard mini-lab, Samples Analysis at Mars (SAM), discovered 10 to 13 carbon compounds, including decane, undecane, and dodecane, which could all possibly be components of fatty acids.

NASA Curiosity Rover recovers Cumberland Sample

The sample comes from a rock target named Cumberland, located in Yellowknife Bay within the 3.7-billion-year-old Gale Crater. Scientists became intrigued by the area’s resemblance to an ancient lakebed, prompting the rover to divert from its primary destination, Mount Sharp, also located within the crater.

The Curiosity rover drilled the Cumberland sample in 2013, extracting material from a 0.6-inch by 2.6-inch hole in the rock. Caroline Freissinet, lead author of the new study, co-led a 2015 project that identified some of the same organic molecules in the sample, which has since undergone several rounds of SAM analysis.

Organic Origins

It’s currently impossible to determine the exact source of the molecules, which could have several origins. If they are fragments of fatty…more