Organics found on mars!!!

[daniel l.]

ERMAHGERD!!!!!

http://www.space.com/28869-curiosity-rover-mars-wet-chemistry-organics.html

I cant believe its happening!

Edited March 20, 2015 by DuoDex

[RainDreamer]

Still not enough to figure out if it was biological, but this is promising!

[dryer_lint]

I'm sorry, guys, but if this is going to be the revolutionary event that proves the existence of past life on Mars, I need to do this.

I just need to.

First.

[vger]

I don't think the general public will accept it until they see a microscopic image of an organism. Either intact or fossilized.

[Bill Phil]

I don't think the general public will accept it until they see a microscopic image of an organism. Either intact or fossilized.

Organics do not equal life. The average person might not know that, but the average person doesn't need to.

The scientists working on/with Curiosity, on the other hand...

[Kryten]

Organics at the surface means very little... Mars is constantly bombarded by meteorites and space dust, and late portions of either will be composed of organics.

[kenbobo]

YAY! Waiting for the day Orion enters orbit and someone lands, and they find aliens.

[DuoDex]

Honestly, I'm not surprised.

It's not that uninhabitable.

[Kryten]

Can we move this into the science labs? At least there it might attract people who know what 'organics' means and doesn't mean.

[DuoDex]

Can we move this into the science labs? At least there it might attract people who know what 'organics' means and doesn't mean.

Good idea.

Moved.

[Bill Phil]

Off topic: That was scary! I clicked on the thread when it was in The Space Lounge, and then it got moved Freaky!

On-topic: I think it's an interesting thing. It means that they can either form there, or can be made there, or came from somewhere else.... Which means it's interesting to say the least.

[AngelLestat]

Not sure yet, this still means nothing, Of course I believe that sooner or later they will find evidence that once was or there is life, but we are still far to find it.

[lajoswinkler]

finding organics =/= life

Also, how much? Traces? Should be a normal thing. Wake me up when NASA finds stromatolithes.

[dbmorpher]

Correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't large organic molecules not be large if they were constantly pelted with ionizing radiation?

Doesn't that mean that the molecules created would have to have been created recently?

[Bill Phil]

Correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't large organic molecules not be large if they were constantly pelted with ionizing radiation?

Doesn't that mean that the molecules created would have to have been created recently?

There are small organics, such as glucose. Others exist, but I have no idea what they're called.

[Kerbart]

Organics as in chemistry based on oxygen, carbon and hydrogen?

About as alive as gasoline. Good way to get the interest of John Q. Public back though.

[DaveofDefeat]

Last I heard organics is a part of chemistry dealing with carbon molecules, and have almost nothing to do with biological life forms.

[RocketPilot573]

Water on Mars? Yay! Odd how we found organic compounds on a comet... before mars. I know it doesn't mean life it's still interesting.

EDIT: Wait, this is from a leak of some fluid? And the comet lander crash landed in the wrong place? Both were accidents... We should mess up more often.

[Brotoro]

Is this new stuff? I thought JPL announced last December that Curiosity's SAM experiment had detected chlorobenzene, dichloroethane, dichloropropane, and dichlorobutane.

[kerbiloid]

As Roverdude has told in Community Resource Pack thread:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/91998-0-90-Community-Resource-Pack-0-3-3-2015-01-27?p=1788345&viewfull=1#post1788345

, he'll "move the USI mods to a 1L 'Organics' resource".

So, Mars now becomes USI-compatible too. This was fairly expected.

[RainDreamer]

Both were accidents... We should mess up more often.

Sounds exactly like how the kerbals do science.

[lajoswinkler]

Correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't large organic molecules not be large if they were constantly pelted with ionizing radiation?

Doesn't that mean that the molecules created would have to have been created recently?

Depends which ones. Some can survive, some can not. Ionizing radiation in Martian case works more indirectly, by "priming" the ground and making it pretty darn oxidative.

[KerikBalm]

Is this new stuff? I thought JPL announced last December that Curiosity's SAM experiment had detected chlorobenzene, dichloroethane, dichloropropane, and dichlorobutane.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-432

Yea... this sort of stuff is found in space... comets, nebula, etc.

http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0509586

Guess what... Titan has seas of organics...

Don't overreact.

Wake me when they find long polymers, and not just a subunit of a subunit of a molecule that would indicate life - such as a protein- ie a complex polymer of amino acids, or strands of DNA/RNA... ie polymers of bases composed of a sugar linked to a nucleic acid... the nucleic acid itself having cyclic hydrocarbon rings... simply finding cyclic hydrocarbon rings like benzene is a long way from finding life.

[Scotius]

Organic molecules are building blocks of the life. When you find a bunch of bricks on the ground, usually it's a good indicator a building is somewhere nearby. Or was in the past.

[Linear]

Organic molecules are building blocks of the life. When you find a bunch of bricks on the ground, usually it's a good indicator a building is somewhere nearby. Or was in the past.

As much as i believe there either is or was some life on mars - organic compounds are like finding clay, not bricks. Bricks would be RNA/DNA.