Nitrogen found on Mars! What does it mean?

            

           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