Despite widespread speculation about a potentially significant discovery on Mars, the Curiosity rover’s first detailed look at a Martian soil sample with an instrument capable of detecting organic compounds hasn’t found any “definitive” signs of materials that play key roles in biological processes on Earth, scientists said Monday.
While the rover’s Sample Analysis at Mars, or SAM, instrument detected signs of an oxygen-chlorine compound — perchlorate — and trace amounts of chlorinated methane compounds, which contain carbon, researchers say more tests are needed to make sure the carbon originated with the sample and was not brought to Mars aboard Curiosity.