Ancient Organics Discovered on Mars

Ancient Organics Discovered on Mars

Since arriving at Mars in 2012, NASA's Curiosity rover has drilled into rocks in search of organics - molecules containing carbon. Organics are the building blocks of all life on Earth, though they can also come from non-living sources. The surface of Mars readily destroys these molecules, making them difficult to detect. Now, Curiosity has discovered ancient organics that have been preserved in rocks for billions of years. This finding helps scientists better understand the habitability of early Mars, and it paves the way for future missions to the Red Planet. Graphics from the NASA-TV broadcast of this discovery are available at: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12967 Music provided by Killer Tracks: "Crystalline" by Enrico Cacace & Manuel Bandettini, "Based On True Events" by Eric Chevalier, "Mirrored Cubes" by Laurent Dury, "Lost In The Sky" by Matthews Samar This video is public domain and along with other supporting visualizations can be downloaded from the Scientific Visualization Studio at: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12951 Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Dan Gallagher If you liked this video, subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/NASAExplorer Follow NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center · Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NASA.GSFC · Twitter http://twitter.com/NASAGoddard · Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/ · Instagram http://www.instagram.com/nasagoddard/ · Google+ http://plus.google.com/+NASAGoddard/posts Credits Interviewee: Jennifer Eigenbrode (NASA/GSFC) Producer: Dan Gallagher (USRA) Scientists: Jennifer Eigenbrode (NASA/GSFC) Paul Mahaffy (NASA/GSFC) Editor: Dan Gallagher (USRA) Science Writer: William Steigerwald (NASA/GSFC) Videographer: Rob Andreoli (AIMM) Production Assistant: John Caldwell (AIMM) Animators: Lisa Poje (Freelance) Josh Masters (USRA) Michael Lentz (USRA) John Blackwell (LPI) Project Support: Molly Wasser (ADNET Systems Inc.) Technical Support: Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET Systems Inc.)