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Mars meteorite
Mars meteorite









mars meteorite

"The question of whether it ever existed on Mars is a very hot research topic that requires deeper knowledge of our neighboring planet's water, organic molecules and reactive surfaces," study lead author Philippe Schmitt-Kopplin, a biogeochemist at the Technical University of Munich in Germany, said in the statement.These days, not so much. 4.6 billion-year-old meteorite may reveal the origin of Earth's waterīut future missions to Mars are needed to expand our understanding of the Red Planet before we can say more confidently whether or not life once flourished on Mars, the researchers said. World's largest Martian meteorite goes on display Two minerals never seen before on Earth found inside 17-ton meteorite and a mission scientist with NASA's Perseverance and Curiosity rovers, said in the statement. "Understanding the processes and sequence of events that shaped this rich organic bounty will reveal new details about Mars’ habitability and potentially about the reactions that could lead to the formation of life," study co-author Andrew Steele, an astrobiologist at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington D.C. Related: How many meteorites hit Earth every year?Īlthough none of these organic compounds identified in the new study are obvious biomarkers for alien life, the researchers note that they can still help teach scientists new things about our cosmic neighbor, potentially including whether the ancient geological conditions on the planet may have favored life. But in July, 2022, researchers discovered that the compounds within ALH 84001 were likely created by basic geological reactions billions of years ago. The Allan Hills 84001 meteorite, or ALH 84001, which crash-landed in Antarctica in 1984, contained several organic compounds their discovery sparked years of debate about whether these compounds could have been formed by ancient Martian life forms. This is not the first time organic compounds have been discovered within a Martian meteorite. The new study of the Tissint organics is the most detailed analysis of any Martian sample to date.

mars meteorite

The team believes that these compounds were formed in the high-pressure and high-temperature conditions of Mars' ancient mantle (the layer beneath Mars' crust), meaning they are non-biological and could reveal clues about how the Red Planet’s deep interior was shaped. The Tissint meteorite contained organic magnesium compounds, which are "extremely abundant" throughout the meteorite and have never been detected in Martian samples before, researchers wrote in the study. However, some organic compounds can also be formed by non-biological processes, so scientists cannot know for certain whether such compounds are a sign of life on other planets. These compounds are highly abundant in all lifeforms on Earth, which means their presence in space rocks could potentially indicate the existence of life elsewhere in the solar system.

mars meteorite

Organic compounds are molecules that contain carbon atoms bonded to atoms from one or more other elements - usually hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur, as well as others. Related: Never-before-seen crystals found in perfectly preserved meteorite dust The new study represents "the most comprehensive catalog ever made of the diversity of organic compounds found in a Martian meteorite or in a sample collected and analyzed by a rover," researchers wrote in a statement. 11 in the journal Science Advances, researchers analyzed fragments of the meteorite and found examples of at least five different types of organics compounds.











Mars meteorite