The latest data from NASA’s Curiosity rover reveal, for the first time, nitrogen compounds on the surface of the planet Mars. The presence of nitrogen (specifically nitric oxide) is essential for life. This discovery therefore provides new clues that Mars may have supported life at some point in its history before becoming dry and barren.
Nitrogen had previously been detected in the red planet’s atmosphere, but nitrates had never been found on the surface before, both in surface dust samples and in sediments from the ancient Martian crater lake Gale. The results are also completely reliable, since the rover’s SAM instrument has been very rigorous in ruling out possible contamination with nitrogen from the Earth .
“ Nitrogen compounds have never been identified on the surface of Mars before , neither in situ through rovers or landers, nor with orbiters; It had only appeared in some Martian meteorites, ”Alberto G. Fairen, co-author of the study, told the Sinc agency.
The concentration of nitrogen on the surface of Mars is 20-250 nanomoles in the form of nitric oxide or nitrogen monoxide , which suggests that “the existence of a biochemically accessible nitrogen source on Mars seems a fundamental requirement for the possible habitability of the planet. planet ”, clarifies Fairen. And it is that life runs on nitrogen until it runs on carbon.
When assessing what caused this appearance of nitrates, scientists believe that these were created during a thermal shock , probably through the impact of an asteroid.
The work has been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).
