Perseverance discovered a large amount of organic matter. Is life on Mars about to appear? Scientists are about to reveal the truth

Recently, the internationally renowned New Scientist magazine website reported that the Perseverance rover discovered a large number of organic molecules on Mars. Organic molecules are the most basic carbon-containing molecules that make up life, so scientists believe that the possibility of life on Mars is increasing.

A single stone can cause a thousand ripples. Humans have been searching for extraterrestrial life for decades, searching the entire solar system. The exploration of Mars has also lasted for decades, with dozens of exploration spacecraft launched and six Mars rovers working on the surface of Mars for more than 20 years, yet not a single trace of extraterrestrial life has been found. Now, this trace of life is about to appear?

Is Perseverance really that capable? What kind of rover is it? It has been almost 600 days since it arrived on Mars. What has it done? Let's take a look.

Perseverance is the most powerful Mars rover ever

Perseverance is the fifth rover sent to Mars by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). The first was Sojourner, launched in 1997. It was called Sojourner, which means "Sojourner". Subsequently, Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity were successfully launched. Now, except for Curiosity, which was launched in 2012 and is still working, the rest of the Mars rovers have been retired.

From the names of these rovers, we can see that NASA is tirelessly exploring Mars, and is full of passion and confidence. From the initial "residence", to the doubling of "courage", to the coexistence of hope and "opportunity", to further "curiosity", to the current persistence of "perseverance", it is a step-by-step and continuous advancement.

The current Perseverance is an enhanced version of Curiosity, equipped with a more advanced scientific payload, and is considered the most powerful Mars rover in history. The biggest difference from previous Mars rovers is that this time Perseverance brought a helicopter called Ingenuity, nicknamed Ingenuity, which weighs only 1.8 kilograms and landed suspended under the belly of Perseverance.

This was the first time that humans used an aerodynamic aircraft on an extraterrestrial planet. It relied on the thin atmosphere of Mars, which was only 1% of the density of the Earth, to fly, setting a precedent for flying on an extraterrestrial planet.

Perseverance has several new breakthroughs: it is the heaviest Mars rover ever, with a mass of 1,025 kilograms; it was the first time that an "air crane" was used to make a stunning landing on an alien planet, and it sent back landing images; it carries seven sets of scientific payloads and is hailed as a powerful laboratory; it is equipped with 23 video and imaging devices, including 9 engineering cameras, 7 scientific cameras, and 7 landing cameras.

Perseverance has been on Mars for one year and seven months, creating miracles one after another: it has taken and sent back the most spectacular high-definition images of the Martian surface, with up to 2.5 billion pixels (pictured above); it has recorded the sounds of Mars for the first time, and measured the speed of sound on Mars to be 240 meters per second, about 70% of the speed of sound on Earth; it has used the thin carbon dioxide atmosphere of Mars to produce oxygen that humans can breathe; it has taken the first picture of a solar eclipse on Mars and sent back the image.

The data sent back recently showed that through drilling and analysis of Martian sedimentary rocks, Perseverance has discovered a large number of complex organic molecules containing aromatic chemicals, and is trying to knock on the door of life on Mars.

Perseverance's mission is to build on the past and explore life on Mars

Perseverance's mission is to build on the past and open up the future. It is based on the exploration and discoveries of the four groups of Mars rovers launched in the past, and its main focus is to explore whether there is life on Mars.

Before this, after decades of exploration and discovery by various Mars probes and rovers, it has been basically confirmed that: there is water on Mars, but it exists in the form of frozen water underground and at the poles; there is a thin atmosphere composed mainly of carbon dioxide, with a density of less than 1% of that of the Earth; there were seas and rivers on the surface of Mars in ancient times, and so on.

Mars is colder than Earth because it is farther away from the Sun. Mars has an inclination of 24 degrees to the ecliptic, which is very close to Earth's 23.44 degrees, so it also has four seasons throughout the year. Mars rotates once in about 24.6 hours, and a Martian day is similar to an Earth day. Mars revolves around the sun in about 687 days, which is about two Earth years. Mars has two satellites, Phobos and Deimos.

Therefore, Mars is considered to be the planet in the solar system that is closest to the Earth's environment and is the preferred planet for future human migration to other planets.

However, because Mars is farther away from the sun than the Earth and is smaller than the Earth, its environment is different from that of the Earth in many ways: first, there is no air that humans can breathe; due to the lack of sufficient atmosphere and geomagnetic protection, the surface of Mars is widely attacked by high-energy radiation from the sun and interstellar space; the temperature difference on Mars reaches 160 degrees Celsius, the lowest temperature at night in winter can reach -133 degrees Celsius, and the highest temperature at the equator in summer can reach 27 degrees Celsius during the day.

Under such conditions, can life still exist on Mars? How feasible is it for humans to migrate to Mars in the future? This is a question that humans have always wanted to figure out. The Perseverance rover is carrying this expectation of mankind and is heading to Mars. It will spend its entire life trying to give humans a clearer answer than ever before.

Therefore, it mainly does two things on Mars: first, by examining the ancient environment and rock samples of Mars, it can understand the ancient climate characteristics of Mars, whether there was a habitable environment, reveal its geological change process, and search for possible biological signals; second, use the natural resources on Mars to experiment with producing the oxygen and fuel needed for humans to land on Mars, and explore the feasibility of humans landing on Mars.

Perseverance lived up to expectations and found a large amount of organic matter in the sedimentary rocks in an area called Skinner Ridge, and transmitted the analysis data back to Earth. Thomas Zurbuchen, head of NASA's science department, believes that these samples collected in the sedimentary area will help explain the core question of whether there is life on Mars.

Scientists generally believe that although these substances are not signs of life, they mean that scientists have found the right place. These sulfate- and clay-rich rocks can preserve biological features well. These substances may have been brought from hundreds of kilometers away by flowing water billions of years ago.

So, does this mean that life is about to be discovered?

It seems too early to draw this conclusion. NASA and ESA experts said that two unmanned spacecraft will be launched to Mars again in 2026. One of them will land on Mars in 2028 and meet with Perseverance to receive the collected samples. The samples will then be launched into the orbit of Mars and handed over to another spacecraft waiting in orbit. The latter will return after receiving the samples and deliver them to scientists in 2031.

This will be the first time that humans have traveled back and forth from Mars, and it will be a prelude to humans landing on Mars, which will be another big show.

Scientists may be able to obtain evidence and inferences about whether there is life on Mars through detailed analysis and research of samples collected from Mars. From this point of view, there is still a long way to go to solve the mystery of life on Mars. However, Perseverance is still in action, and perhaps more discoveries will follow.

Now, Perseverance has not only discovered clues to the possible existence of life, but also used a device about half the size of a microwave oven, MOXIE, to collect the thin carbon dioxide atmosphere of Mars and produce 10 grams of oxygen per hour. Although it is very little, only enough for one person to breathe for 20 minutes, it is a breakthrough, which declares that humans can produce breathable oxygen on Mars in the future.

The next step is to use the frozen water on Mars to produce drinkable water, and use the hydrogen and oxygen elements in the water to produce energy for spacecraft - methane. This is why Musk's Space X starship does not use many other chemical fuels on Earth, but uses methane as fuel. Musk, who is determined to send humans to Mars, has long been prepared to use Martian resources to produce round-trip fuel.

Perseverance has been working alone on Mars for nearly 600 days. Its design lifespan is only one Martian year, or 687 days. So is Perseverance going to die? I don't think so, because the actual lifespans of its predecessors are much longer than their design lifespans. For example, the design lifespans of Spirit and Opportunity were both 90 days, but they worked for 7 and 15 years respectively; Curiosity was designed to have a lifespan of 1.88 Martian years, but it has been working tirelessly since it landed on Mars in 2012.

With so many predecessors’ encouragement, I believe that Perseverance will be even more “perseverant”. Now on Mars, in addition to Perseverance, there are also Curiosity and my country’s Zhurong working silently for humans. Let us take this opportunity to sincerely wish these human AI friends good work, good health and longevity! If you have any opinions, please feel free to discuss and comment.

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