NASA’s Perseverance rover has found a wide variety of organic molecules in the Martian crater, according to a new study.

Organic compounds are molecules composed of carbon and often contain other elements such as hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur. Previously, scientists discovered several types of Martian organic molecules—in meteorites that flew from Mars and fell to Earth as a result of cosmic collisions, as well as in Gale Crater on the Red Planet, which NASA’s Curiosity rover has explored ever since. 2012.

“It’s an exciting tip for astrobiologists because they’re often thought of as the building blocks of life,” said lead study author Sunanda Sharma, a planetary scientist at the Cal Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

But, Sharma stressed, “more importantly, they can be created by processes that have nothing to do with life.” Therefore, studying what organic molecules exist on the Red Planet and how they are created is key to understanding what is and isn’t related to life on Mars.

In the new study, Sharma and colleagues analyzed data from Perseverance. In February 2021, the rover landed in Jesero Crater, where there is an ancient lake basin that shows high potential for life, according to previous research. The crater floor also contains clays and other minerals that can store organic matter.

Specifically, the scientists examined data from scans of habitable environments using the Raman Scattering and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) instrument aboard Perseverance. SHERLOC is the first instrument on Mars capable of fine-scale mapping and analysis of organic molecules.

The researchers focused on SHERLOC data from Máaz and Séítah, two rock formations at the bottom of Jezero crater. When UV light from SHERLOC illuminates organic compounds, they can glow just like material under a black light. The trace of wavelengths in a molecule’s glow can help identify it.

Sharma and colleagues found signatures of organic molecules in all 10 targets that Perseverance opened in Maaz and Seite, spanning at least about 2.3 billion to 2.6 billion years ago. “This points to the possibility that the building blocks of life may have been present in more than one place on the Martian surface for a long time,” Sharma said.

Scientists have found evidence for the existence of many different classes of organic molecules. They occurred in different spatial patterns at Maas and Seitach, suggesting they may have originated from a number of different minerals and formation mechanisms. These organic compounds are mostly associated with water-bound minerals.

“It was surprising and fascinating to see that possible organic signals differ in type, number of detections, and distribution between the two crater floor units,” Sharma said. Said. “This opens up the possibility of different mechanisms of formation, protection or transport across the crater and more broadly the Martian surface.”

Scientists have not been able to identify specific organic molecules. “We need to send samples to Earth to confirm the existence and specific types of organics,” Sharma said. Said. “That’s our aim.” The scientists published their findings in the journal Nature.