Organic matter preserved in 3-billion-year-old mudstones at Gale crater, Mars

DOI Web Site Web Site 20 Citations
  • Jennifer L. Eigenbrode
    Solar System Exploration Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
  • Roger E. Summons
    Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
  • Andrew Steele
    Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC 20015, USA.
  • Caroline Freissinet
    Solar System Exploration Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
  • Maëva Millan
    Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Université Versailles Saint-Quentin and CNRS, Paris, France.
  • Rafael Navarro-González
    Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, Cuidad de México 04510, México.
  • Brad Sutter
    Jacobs Technology, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
  • Amy C. McAdam
    Solar System Exploration Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
  • Heather B. Franz
    Solar System Exploration Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
  • Daniel P. Glavin
    Solar System Exploration Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
  • Paul D. Archer
    Jacobs Technology, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
  • Paul R. Mahaffy
    Solar System Exploration Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
  • Pamela G. Conrad
    Solar System Exploration Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
  • Joel A. Hurowitz
    Department of Geosciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.
  • John P. Grotzinger
    Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
  • Sanjeev Gupta
    Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
  • Doug W. Ming
    Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
  • Dawn Y. Sumner
    Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
  • Cyril Szopa
    Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Université Versailles Saint-Quentin and CNRS, Paris, France.
  • Charles Malespin
    Solar System Exploration Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
  • Arnaud Buch
    Laboratoire Génie des Procédés et Matériaux, Centrale Supélec, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
  • Patrice Coll
    Laboratoire Inter-Universitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques, Université Paris-Est Créteil, Université Paris Diderot and CNRS, Créteil, France.

Description

<jats:title>Measuring martian organics and methane</jats:title> <jats:p> The Curiosity rover has been sampling on Mars for the past 5 years (see the Perspective by ten Kate). Eigenbrode <jats:italic>et al.</jats:italic> used two instruments in the SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars) suite to catch traces of complex organics preserved in 3-billion-year-old sediments. Heating the sediments released an array of organics and volatiles reminiscent of organic-rich sedimentary rock found on Earth. Most methane on Earth is produced by biological sources, but numerous abiotic processes have been proposed to explain martian methane. Webster <jats:italic>et al.</jats:italic> report atmospheric measurements of methane covering 3 martian years and found that the background level varies with the local seasons. The seasonal variation provides an important clue for determining the origin of martian methane. </jats:p> <jats:p> <jats:italic>Science</jats:italic> , this issue p. <jats:related-article xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="doi" issue="6393" page="1096" related-article-type="in-this-issue" vol="360" xlink:href="10.1126/science.aas9185">1096</jats:related-article> , p. <jats:related-article xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="doi" issue="6393" page="1093" related-article-type="in-this-issue" vol="360" xlink:href="10.1126/science.aaq0131">1093</jats:related-article> ; see also p. <jats:related-article xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="doi" issue="6393" page="1068" related-article-type="in-this-issue" vol="360" xlink:href="10.1126/science.aat2662">1068</jats:related-article> </jats:p>

Journal

  • Science

    Science 360 (6393), 1096-1101, 2018-06-08

    American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Citations (20)*help

See more

Report a problem

Back to top