The “Garden City” in Mars

Curiosity examined bright and dark mineral veins at a site called "Garden City," where some veins protrude as high as two finger widths above the eroding bedrock in which they formed.

     The diverse composition of the crisscrossing veins points to multiple episodes of water moving through fractures in the bedrock when it was buried. During some wet periods, water carried different dissolved substances than during other wet periods. When conditions dried, fluids left clues behind that scientists are now analyzing for insights into how ancient environmental conditions changed over time.

     Thanks to NASA's Curiosity rover, scientists now have a better understanding about a site with the most chemically diverse mineral veins.

Source: http://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/upgrade-helps-nasa-study-mineral-veins-on-mars

Chemistry Group: Rene Piedra and Ailet Reyes

Discovering Mars with the Latest Technology

          The Mars Curiosity Rover has been equipped with advanced computer technology facilitating its adaptation to the challenges present in the red planet. Curiosity has two computers, which allows to storage small amounts of data that is automatically saved in the event that electric power is interrupted.

          Engineers on Earth, on a daily basis, send instructions to the computer in order to achieve the activities of the day. Curiosity has a laser with the ability to recognize the rocks and theirs characteristics. It also possesses a seven-foot long arm that can reach Martian soil and rocks and that is able to find out about what the past environment was like.

          This robot has made it possible to find details about Mars that we may have not known before thanks to its technological advanced system.

Engineering Team:

Alejandro Diaz and Reidel Nabut

September 29, 2030.

Curiosity Rover Finds Primeval Organic Molecules on Mars

            

            
           Mars Curiosity rover has measured a tenfold spike in methane, an organic chemical, in its atmosphere from previous readings. I appears to fluctuate and it is now 10 times higher than last year. Further, Curiosity has detected other organic molecules in a rock-powder sample collected by the robotic laboratory's drill.

            Curiosity detected organic chemicals in powder drilled from a rock dubbed Cumberland, the first definitive detection of organics in surface materials of Mars.

            These Martian organics could either have formed on Mars or been delivered to Mars by meteorites. Organic molecules, which contain carbon and usually hydrogen, are chemical building blocks of life, although they can exist without the presence of life.

            Curiosity's findings from analyzing samples of atmosphere and rock powder do not reveal whether Mars has ever harbored living organisms, but the findings do shed light on a chemically active modern Mars and on favorable conditions for life on ancient Mars.

Source: http://www.gizmag.com/curiosity-mars-complex-organic-chemistry/35241/

Group (Chemistry): Ailet Reyes and Rene Piedra