On April 21, 2026, NASA announced the discovery of new organic molecules on Mars thanks to the Robert Curiosity. By the way, this news, although current, is a good example of how complicated and slow investigations of chemical traces can be, whether in the atmosphere or on the soil of a planet, because it turns out that what is now being announced is a story that began with the extraction of rock samples drilled by the Robert in October 2020 in the Cratter Gal in the base of Mount Sharp, in an area with abundant clays that were formed when the place was bathed by ancient lakes and rivers.
After years of analysis and thanks to the work of scientists, they have managed to identify the highest density of organic molecules ever found on Mars. They are organic molecules because they contain carbon in their composition. This does not mean that they are the product of life forms. Of course, life to exist, we need organic molecules to exist, but organic molecules can be formed by natural processes without fail that they are the product of life forms.
In total, on Mars, 21 molecules have been found in these samples. Seven are completely new on the red planet, that is, they have never been seen, neither on Mars nor in the Martian meteorites that we have here on Earth, and among the most notable, there is a nitrogen heterocycle, a molecule with a ring structure that is considered a chemical precursor of RNA and DNA. There is also a benzothiophene, which is a molecule with carbon and sulfur that is very interesting for life.
This achievement was achieved thanks to an innovative technique called wet chemistry, using a solvent called TMAH for the first time on another planet. This technique broke up the largest molecules to be able to detect them, something that had not been done before on Mars, but since this technique is the first time it was done on Mars, the team had to validate and calibrate the results very carefully, which is why it took so long.
But to hunt organic molecules on Mars, not only do you have to have a Rover on the red planet, nor adequate equipment, nor a solvent, nor a technique, you also have to have a strategy, which is why NASA scientists have searched in a very appropriate place. The sample comes from a rock nicknamed Mary Anning 3. And be careful, the detail is that it is an area rich in clay minerals. Clays are formed in the presence of water, that is already good, but clays also act as natural preservatives, protecting organic molecules from the intense bombardment of cosmic radiation for billions of years.
In summary, what does this finding mean? This is new evidence that shows that Mars has and had during the era in which there were rivers and seas the necessary chemistry for the emergence of life as we know it. Unfortunately, this repertoire of new organic molecules does not prove that there was life or that there is life at present, but it significantly increases the probability that the red planet was habitable about 3.5 billion years ago, a time when the red planet was not so red, it would surely be white and blue due to the oceans, lakes and rivers and the white for the snow.
But the question is, will we ever find definitive proof that shows us that there was or is life on Mars?
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