Possible Organics Found on Mars... in 1976

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Winston

Lorenzo von Matterhorn
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NASA May Have Discovered and Then Destroyed Organics on Mars in 1976
11 Jul 2018

https://www.space.com/41140-mars-lander-may-have-burned-organics.html

The study and its lead-up discussed in the above article:

Identification of chlorobenzene in the Viking gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer data sets: Reanalysis of Viking mission data consistent with aromatic organic compounds on Mars

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2018JE005544

Abstract

Motivated by the recent detection of chlorobenzene by the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument suite on the Curiosity rover, and the identification of its carbon source as indigenous to the martian sample, we reexamined the original, microfilm preserved, Viking gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GCMS) data sets. We found evidence for the presence of chlorobenzene in Viking Lander 2 (VL-2) data at levels corresponding to 0.08-1.0 ppb (relative to sample mass), in runs when the sample was heated to 350°C and 500°C. Additionally, we found a correlation between the temperature dependence of the chlorobenzene signal and the dichloromethane signal originally identified by the Viking GCMS team. We considered possible sources of carbon that may have produced the chlorobenzene signal, by reaction with perchlorate during pyrolysis, including organic carbon indigenous to the martian parent sample and instrument contamination. We conclude that the chlorobenzene signal measured by VL-2 originated from martian chlorine sources. We show how the carbon source could originate from the martian parent sample, though a carbon source contributed from instrument background cannot yet be ruled out.

Plain Language Summary

The first successful landers on Mars were the twin Viking spacecraft in 1976. Their primary goal was to determine if life could survive on Mars. The Viking landers looked for organic matter in the Martian soil. Even though non-living things can contain organic matter, all terrestrial living things contain organic material. Shockingly, a main instrument onboard the landers, the GCMS, detected no organic matter. This was a huge surprise to scientists, who knew organic material was deposited by comets and meteorites. This became a scientific mystery for decades. In 2008, the spacecraft Phoenix explored the north pole of Mars. Phoenix discovered a salt in the Martian soil which is rare on Earth. After further conclusions of the presence of this salt on Mars and experiments on Earth, scientists proposed this salt might have chlorinated any organics inside the Viking instruments. We searched the Viking data for a possible reaction product between the salt and organics in the Viking oven, chlorobenzene, a chlorinated organic molecule. We found evidence of chlorobenzene. We conclude the chlorine component of the chlorobenzene is martian, and the carbon molecule of the chlorobenzene is consistent with a martian origin, though we cannot fully rule out instrument contamination.
 
Thanks for that. One of the biology investigators on that mission Gil Levin has always maintained that life was the most logical explanation of his results. Do a web search on: Gil Levin Mars life, for more info on his Viking mission biology experiments.

Bob Clark
 
Too funny, at a glance I thought the subject was "Possible Organic Food on Mars..." I guess I am hungry.


Ugh, we're not even living on Mars yet and they're finding ways to charge more for food there....
 
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