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We know from the Curiosity expedition on Mars that the planet is home to complex organic molecules. In recent years, the analyzes provided by NASA's latest rover have confirmed this.
What is particular about the presence of these carbon-based compounds is that they are considered a prerequisite for life – a promising sign for scientists.
But Curiosity, which landed on Mars in 2013, is not the first device to have discovered organic matter on Mars.
During the 1970s, the Viking mission took place and apparently did not find any evidence of this kind – however, according to a New Scientist report, NASA could have unwittingly burned traces of organic molecules from March.
A team of NASA scientists around Christopher McKay now believes he knows how to solve the whole situation: according to the researchers, at least one Viking unit that has landed has, in fact, detected organic matter – but the remote-controlled machine has Unintentionally burned the precious find when analyzing the data.
NASA burns organic matter from Mars (by accident)
This hypothesis is plausible because of the presence of a substance discovered ten years ago on Mars: in 2008, Phoenix Lander of NASA discovered a toxic salt compound on Mars. called perchlorate. On Earth, as this compound is highly flammable, it is used, among other things, in fireworks. On Mars, on the other hand, it's cool, so there should not be any possibility of burning.
However, the Viking Lander heated samples of Martian soil to 500 degrees. With perchlorate in the mixture, sensitive organic molecules would likely have been destroyed immediately when they were heated, the researchers suggested.
Looking at the new data from Curiosity, McKay and his colleagues believe that the ideas that have been put forward on the controversial issue since the discovery of Phoenix data are much more likely. In 2013, Curiosity detected not only organic substances but also chlorobenzene molecules, produced when carbon reacts with perchlorate.
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