Measurements taken by the rover’s Sherloc instrument identified organic carbon in mudstones from the Bright Angel outcrop as it trundled along Neretva Vallis, a dried-up river that carried water into the planet’s Jezero crater billions of years ago.
The form of carbon detected, known as macromolecular carbon or MMC, can originate from living organisms. Geological processes can also produce the material, meaning its detection does not amount to proof of past Martian life.
Dr Ashley Murphy at the Planetary Science Institute in Arizona said MMC can be found in different settings and types of rocks. “It may originate from biological sources such as fossilised organic matter found in microbial mats and coal,” she said, but could also form in reactions between rocks and water or arrive on impacting meteorites.
Either way, don't you find this kind of exploration fascinating? I do, because the paradox of people fighting and killing each over religious and other belief systems just does not meld in with scientific minded people.
How can one person be so curious - and so bright and talented - to want to reach beyond our world simply for answers, and another be so blinded by hatred the only thing they think about is ways to end your life?
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