Organic matter on Mars was not created by life?

According to SciTech Daily, these materials expected to be traces of life were collected by NASA's Curiosity robotic lander, operating in the Gale Crater area, which may have once been a wet plain.

A new study led by Professor Yuichiro Ueno from the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan) and Professor Matthew Johnson from the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) has just reported bad news.

Landscape in the Gale Crater area of ​​Mars - Graphic image: SCITECH DAILY

The article published in the scientific journal Nature Geoscience said they discovered this organic matter has a carbon-13/carbon-12 isotope ratio significantly lower than what is found on Earth.

Organic matter on Earth is mainly associated with biological processes, but in the Martian environment, a different mechanism may be responsible.

That is why there is a difference in isotope ratios compared to organic substances formed by living organisms.

This discovery does not confirm that Mars is lifeless, but does dampen hopes that the large amount of organic matter on Mars was not created by life, but by natural processes.

And it wouldn't be surprising if subsequent missions by NASA or other space agencies find abundant organic matter on the surface of Mars.

Perhaps the key to the problem is the development of technologies to determine which types of organic matter are made by life and which types originate from the different environments of Mars.

Isabella Humphrey

Update 31 May 2024