STARSET_MirrorNASA’s Curiosity rover finds organic matter on Mars
Organic matter has been found on Mars in soil samples taken from 3 billion-year-old mudstone in the Gale crater by the Curiosity rover, NASA announced Thursday. The rover has also detected methane in the Martian atmosphere.
美国国家航空航天局周四宣布，“好奇号”火星探测器从盖尔陨石坑(Gale crater) 30亿年前的泥岩中提取的土壤样本中发现了有机物。火星车还在火星大气中检测到甲烷。
The search for life outside Earth focuses on the building blocks of life as we know it, which includes organic compounds and molecules — although these can exist without life. Organic matter can be one of several things: a record detailing ancient life, a food source for life or something that exists in the place of life.“With these new findings, Mars is telling us to stay the course and keep searching for evidence of life,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. “I’m confident that our ongoing and planned missions will unlock even more breathtaking discoveries on the Red Planet.”The discover of extraterrestrial life would open up a world of questions regarding the possibility of sustained life in the future.
寻找地球外生命的重点是我们所知道的生命的组成部分，包括有机化合物和分子——尽管这些物质在没有生命的情况下也可以存在。有机物可以是以下几种物质之一:详细记载古代生命的记录、生命的食物来源或存在于生命所在地方的东西。“有了这些新发现，火星告诉我们要坚持到底，继续寻找生命的证据，”NASA总部科学任务理事会副局长托马斯·祖尔布亨说。“我相信，我们正在进行的和计划中的任务将解开这颗红色星球上更令人惊叹的发现。”外星生命的发现将开启一个关于未来是否存在持续生命的问题的世界。
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