Mars Exploration Rover Percivirance. Courtesy of Wikimedia.
About three years ago, on July 30, 2020, the American Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Mars exploration rover ‘Percivirance’, which left Earth, found various organic matter in the crater as an example of Mars. Researchers suggested the possibility that more complex biogeochemical cycles existed on Mars than previously thought. The biogeochemical cycle refers to the movement of chemical elements or molecules in the Earth’s biosphere and non-biosphere, such as the carbon cycle, oxygen cycle, and water cycle.
Sunanda Sharma, a postdoctoral researcher at the California Institute of Technology, published a study on the international journal Nature on the 12th (local time) that Percivirance found traces of various types of organic molecules in craters as examples on Mars.
Scientists have presented several research results so far that the organic matter found on Mars is likely to have been formed from the interaction of water and rocks, or from meteor or dust deposits, rather than the possibility that it originated from living things. This research will help improve understanding of organic matter on Mars and study the possibility of life and its usefulness as a carbon source.
The research team looked at the observations of ‘Sherlock’, an organic material and mineral scanning device attached to Percivirance’s arm. For example, a crater is a place that is highly likely to have been inhabited by creatures in the past. Sherlock explored the two layers at the bottom of this crater, ‘Maz’ and ‘Seita’. Traces of organic molecules were detected in all observation data from 10 locations used in this study. The analysis results are expected to help predict the origin of various organic substances, such as sediments caused by water on Mars and synthesis with volcanic substances.
The research team said, “The synthesis and preservation mechanisms of organic molecules on the surface of Mars are likely to work differently than on Earth, and water seems to have played a key role.”
Percivirance, which landed on the surface of Mars on February 19, 2021, is an example that is predicted to have a high possibility of life.
A typical example is the first powered flight on a planet other than Earth and the possibility of oxygen production on Mars. On April 19, 2021, the small unmanned aerial vehicle’Ingenuity’, which arrived on Mars on Percivirance, succeeded in flying over Mars for the first time, and flew about 50 times. It succeeded in flying by reducing the weight and increasing the rotor speed of the propeller so that it can fly even on Mars, where the atmosphere is thin.
Ingenuity lost communication after its 52nd flight on April 26, but NASA announced on the 30th of last month (local time) that Ingenuity succeeded in communicating again after 63 days of communication disruption. It is expected that once the inspection related to the communication loss is completed, it will resume flight exploration.
Percivirance also confirmed the possibility of oxygen production on Mars. A research team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Haystack Observatory has succeeded in turning carbon dioxide on Mars into oxygen through the oxygen production device ‘Moxy’. Moxy reliably and efficiently converted the Martian atmosphere into pure oxygen. Pollutants in the air were filtered out through a filter, and carbon dioxide was electrolyzed in a solid oxide electrolyzer (SOXE) to separate oxygen ions and carbon monoxide. When two oxygen ions combine to form oxygen, the yield and purity are measured and then released along with carbon monoxide gas.
The research team, which announced the research results related to oxygen production at the end of August last year, said, “Before the manned Mars exploration, we drew a blueprint for operating an oxygen plant that continuously produces oxygen as much as the amount of oxygen produced by hundreds of trees.”
