NASA reveals Curiosity rover soil findings
NASA conducted its first chemical test of soil from the Curiosity rover's findings but has yet to offer any "earth-shaking" discoveries. We're taking a closer look at this interesting story from the Current community. Check it out and add your two cents:
Curiosity finds evidence of organic compounds on Mars (not life .. yet)
Submitted by HarukoHaruhara
Curiosity retrieved its first soil scoops at a location called Rocknest, and delivered the samples to an onboard chemistry lab for testing. The rover used its new Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument, a tool that is capable of identifying organic compounds. However, this initial sample does not indiciate any such compound.
The spacecraft is on the hunt for signs that the red planet can support life.
"We have no definitive detection of Martian organics at this point, but we will keep looking in the diverse environments of Gale Crater," says SAM Principal Investigator Paul Mahaffy of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
"We used almost every part of our science payload examining this drift," says Curiosity Project Scientist John Grotzinger, in a press release. "The synergies of the instruments and richness of the data sets give us great promise for using them at the mission’s main science destination on Mount Sharp."
Watch "The War Room" tonight at 5E/2P as Jennifer Granholm gets the latest about Curiosity's soil discovery with Bill Nye.
Join the discussion -- or head over to the Community page for more popular stories from the community.
(Photo: Getty Images)
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warman1138
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Sooner or later life or its components will be found.
- 6 months ago
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warman1138
