[ad_1]
NASA scientists have determined that a primitive ocean on Mars contained more water than Earth’s Arctic … [+]
Japanese researchers have found tantalizing traces of ancient organic nitrogen-containing molecules in an Antarctic meteorite known to come from Mars. They made their detection using advanced spectroscopy of meteorite rock fragments dating back some 4 billion years. There, they found organic carbon and nitrogen materials within carbonate globules.
As reported in the magazine Nature’s Communications, researchers from Tokyo Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Institute of Space and Astronautical Science found the orange carbonate minerals within the Alan Hills Martian Meteorite (ALH) 84001.
“These carbonate molecules kept organic materials intact for long geological times,” the authors write. The host rock of the ALH84001 meteorite is likely to have resided in an underground Martian system, indicating that its organic compounds have been protected from ultraviolet (UV) radiation and cosmic rays for billions of years, the authors note.
Because carbonate minerals typically precipitate from groundwater, this finding suggests an early wet, organic-rich Mars that may have been habitable and life-friendly, the Institute says.
The Alan Hills Meteorite
As for the parent meteorite?
ALH84001 is a portion of a meteorite dislodged from Mars by a large impact about 16 million years ago and which fell to Earth in Antarctica approximately 13,000 years ago, says NASA.
Does this mean that Mars actually harbored ancient life?
The key result is that they have found evidence of organic nitrogen-containing material in the ALH84001 meteorite that comes from Mars, Which is potentially important because life uses organic nitrogen-containing compounds, David Catling, a planetary scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle who was not involved in the study, told me. Such molecules include amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, and components of nucleic acids, the building blocks of genetic molecules, he says.
But a Martian origin for molecules is conceivable but not absolutely proven, says Catling. And it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s from Martian life, he says.
Where else could these nitrogen-containing molecules originate?
Organic nitrogen-containing compounds are also found in carbonaceous meteorites that would have fallen on Mars throughout its history, says Catling. Therefore, we don’t have enough information to distinguish between these possibilities, he says, but this result is intriguing and will hopefully inspire more research.
If these nitrogen carriers were indeed homegrown on Mars initially, would this necessarily indicate a milder early climate on the Red planet?
All it tells us is that where the carbonates formed, the temperature was warm enough for liquid water, Catling says. This most likely happened below the surface of Mars, so it doesn’t really tell us too directly about the surface environment and the weather, he says.
But the fact that these materials likely remained below the Martian surface helped him with the cosmic rays and oxidizing environment that occurs on Mars today, says Catling, who notes that oxidation causes planetary atmospheres to react to react with molecules. organic (carbon based) and gyre. in carbon dioxide gas. This conversion destroys organic molecules, he says.
“To allow biology to start, organic carbon is needed,” said Catling.
