The
Curiosity rover, a car sized rover, was launched by NASA on 11/26/11. Its mission is to explore the Gale Crater of
Mars.
This
rover sends information back to NASA with any discoveries made on Mars. Four
years after the launch the Mars Curiosity Rover, the rover has detected traces
of nitrogen on Martian sediment. The nitrogen discovered by the rover is in the
form of nitric oxide and was released by heating soil sediments.
Is the discovery of nitrogen directly linked to living
organisms? Not in in this case. It is believed that the nitrogen is a product
of “meteorite impacts and lighting in Mars’ distant past.
Nitrogen is essential to the sustain life, as it is present
in the “building blocks of larger molecules like DNA and RNA. These molecules encode
the genetic instructions for life. Proteins are used to build structures like
hair and nails and to speed up or regulate chemical reactions. However, this finding
does not indicate that Mars is hospitable planet. Simply because nitrogen is present in Mars, just
as on Earth, does not indicate that life now or before existed on Mars.
Biology- Group B
Jennifer Bahamonde
Abraham Cid
Charles Rivero
