Planetary scientists have found another "element of life" on Mars

© Photo: ESA / DLR / Freie Universitat Berlin (G. Neukum)

MOSCOW, December 14 - RIA Novosti. Curiosity rover found on the surface of Mars Forest - the most important element for life, which is a key part of many protein molecules and vital for the synthesis of DNA and RNA, the scientists said, speaking at the annual conference of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.

"No other mission had not found a boron traces on Mars. If boron, which we found in the Martian deposits of gypsum, similar to those compounds of the substance that is on the earth, we can say that the water in which these deposits were formed , was neutral on its chemical properties and quite warm -. from zero to 60 degrees Celsius in other words, they were suitable for life ", - said Patrick Gasda (Patrick Gasda) National laboratory in Los Alamos (United States).

© Photo: A. Passwaters / Rice University /// NASA / JPL-Caltech

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In recent years, scientists have been able to reproduce many of the key stages of the origin of life on Earth, the study of which has set a number of new puzzles. The two most important of them is that in the primary ocean waters on the early Earth was too small molybdenum and boron - the two micronutrients that are critical for the assembly of DNA molecules, stabilize them and copying. 

One of boron and molybdenum sources, as shown by the study of Martian meteorites in 2013, could serve as Mars. In its atmosphere, according to Steven Benner (Steve Benner), xenobiology known, contain a sufficient quantity of oxygen required for the oxidation of these elements and their dissolution in water.

The problem, says Gasda, lies in the fact that until today no trace of boron or molybdenum on Mars could not find that cast a shadow on the hypothesis Benner. Scientific Curiosity rover team were able to confirm its "boric" half. The fourth rover NASA has found traces of elements in rocks that are studied during the last two parking lots in villages on the slopes of Mount Sharp, received the names and Udam Sebino.

© Fotolia / JLV Image Works

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When the scientists "fired" one of the stones at the first stop of the laser gun ChemCam, they noticed something unusual - in the range of sedimentary rocks contained a piece of the line corresponding to the various boron compounds. This led them to linger and explore further the unusual rock using a drill and other tools of the rover. 

It turned out that the open cobble, named catastate consists of plaster, inside which there are layers of boron salts contained in it in high enough concentrations. Later, when the rover continued the ascent to the summit of Mount Sharp, scientists began finding even more noticeable deposits of this "life element".

As suggested by researchers, they could be formed in two ways - for drying of large volumes of water, just as there are boron deposits in the world, or the result of chemical interactions Mars soil and water streams passing through them in the past.

© NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona

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According to John Grottsingera (John Grotzinger), head of the Curiosity mission in NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a large amount of boron and other elements and compounds of interest in this part of Mount Sharp were like winning the jackpot for the rover science team. The study of the region showed that the water is actively involved in the circulation of substances on Mars, which is a plus in terms of the search for traces of life. 

"This basin of sedimentary rocks is a real chemical reactor elements in it were reversed, new minerals appeared and disappeared old, electrons are continually redistributed and there were other processes that support life on Earth." - Says planetary scientist.

According to him, these reactions, according to the thickness of the layers of rock containing boron and other elements could continue on Mars hundreds of millions of years. This significantly increases our chances of finding life on the surface of the red planet, the scientist concludes.