By Will DunhamWASHINGTON, April 21 (Reuters) – Performing a type of experiment never before tried beyond Earth, NASA’s Curiosity rover has identified more organic compounds on Mars as scientists strive to learn whether the Red Planet ever harbored life.Five of the seven diverse organic compounds confirmed by the six-wheeled rover in rock that formed in a dried lakebed near the planet’s equator had never previously been identified on Mars, the researchers said. The experiment also hinted at the presence of another organic compound that bears a structure similar to precursors to DNA, the molecule that carries genetic information in living organisms on our planet.AdvertisementAdvertisementOrganic compounds, molecules primarily composed of carbon atoms bonded to other elements, form the structural basis of all life on Earth. The total identified on Mars is now in the dozens. The scientists noted, however, that all these compounds could have formed through nonbiological processes.Like Earth and the solar system’s other planets, Mars formed roughly 4.5 billion years ago. Early in its history, Mars was warmer and wetter than the cold and arid place it is today. The researchers estimated that the rock sampled by the rover – sediment laid down by flowing water – dated to at least 3.5 billion years ago.”We cannot yet say that Mars ever harbored life, but our findings further support the evidence that Mars was a habitable world around the time that life on Earth originated,” said astrobiolo …
