NASA's probe could have organic molecules burned on Mars 40 years ago: Report

Washington:

It may sound a bit weird but a NASA spacecraft would have accidentally destroyed organic molecules found on the surface of Mars more than 40 years ago, according to a report by New Scientist.

The US Space Agency announced in June that its robot explorer Curiosity had discovered organic molecules in rocks formed three billion years ago.

However, in 1976, NASA's two Viking landers conducted the first organic matter search experiments on the Red Planet.

"Because small carbon-rich meteorites are so common Scientists have suspected for decades that organic matter exists on Mars.

" But researchers were stunned in 1976 when NASA sent two undercarriages viking to Mars to look for organic compounds for the first time and found absolutely "It was totally unexpected and inconsistent with what we knew," said Chris McKay, a science scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center, quoted by the newspaper.

NASA The Phoenix lander found perchlorate, a type of salt used primarily for propellants and for making fireworks, on Mars in 2008.

"The discovery of perchlorate has relaunched scientists who thought the viking landers could have found organic matter on Mars, among the organic molecules that Curiosity recently discovered include chlorobenzene.

"This molecule is created when carbon molecules burn with perchlorate, scientists therefore suspect that it could have been created when soil samples were burned during the Viking. The exploration, "the report said.

In a separate study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, a team from the LATMOS research center in France revisited the data of the Viking lander.

They found that the Vikin According to Melissa Guzman, a scientist at the LATMOS research center, while the results are interesting, the chlorobenzene may be from material transported by the probe from Earth

but some researchers are

"This document truly seals the case," said Daniel Glavin, an astrobiologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, who was not involved in the study.

The NASA Viking Landers have been sent to Mars for possible signs of life and to study the physical and magnetic properties of the soil and the atmosphere.

The probes continued their mission until the end of the day. to the der transmission to Earth on 11 November 1982 (Viking 1) and 11 April 1980 (Viking 2).