NASA Robot Detects Complex Organic Matter on Mars in ‘Significant Breakthrough’

• NASA Robot Detects Complex Organic Matter on Mars in ‘Significant Breakthrough’
  by Lucia Binding, https://news.sky.com/
  The compounds drilled from the planet’s Gale Crater are the most diverse array ever found, experts claim.
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  A NASA robot has detected complex organic matter on Mars in a “significant breakthrough” in the hunt for life on the planet. The unmanned Curiosity rover discovered the matter from 3.5 billion-year-old rocks on the surface of the Red Planet, scientists have revealed.
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  The samples were drilled from the base of Mount Sharp, inside a basin called Gale Crater. The discovery is not a direct evidence of life. But the compounds are the most diverse array ever found on the surface of the planet since the robotic vehicle landed six years ago, experts claim.
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  Curiosity has also found increasing evidence for seasonal variation of methane on Mars – indicating the source of the gas is likely the planet itself, or possibly its subsurface water. “This is a significant breakthrough because it means there are organic materials preserved in some of the harshest environments on Mars,” said lead author of one of two studies in Science, Jennifer Eigenbrode.
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  “And maybe we can find something better preserved than that, that has signatures of life in it,” added Ms Eigenbrode, an astrobiologist at NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center.
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