Seven compounds were detected for the first time on the red planet, including a possible precursor to DNA.
WASHINGTON — A NASA rover drilling into Martian rock has turned up the biggest and most varied batch of carbon-based molecules ever found on Mars — including some that, on Earth, are considered key building blocks of life.
The findings, published Tuesday in the journal “Nature Communications,” are based on a rock sample the Curiosity rover drilled in 2020. Scientists spent years analyzing the results in the lab before going public with what they found: 21 organic molecules, seven
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