NASA's Curiosity Rover Discovers Organic Material on Mars
I never thought I would hear, read or write the words that I have put as the title for this post in my lifetime. As of Thursday June 7, 2018 NASA has officially released data with a discovery of monumetous proportion. On August 6, 2012 a car sized rover landed on the "red planet" we call Mars... Its mission to explore, discover & complete certain experiments of things that it finds. It also takes some amazing pictures and all of the data that this machine compiles is beamed back to Earth... it's name "Curiosity".
In the past I've written a few posts asking some age old questions (here's the links if you're interested.)
https://steemit.com/science/@mithrilweed/are-we-alone-in-the-universe
https://steemit.com/science/@mithrilweed/what-would-happen-if-we-find-life-on-another-planet
https://steemit.com/science/@mithrilweed/finding-a-second-earth-is-not-a-matter-of-if-but-when
All of the subject matter are legitimate questions that any reasonable person would ask themselves. It seems that NASA's Curiosity rover is answering one of the top questions, "does life exist outside our planet?"The Curiosity drilled into sedimentary rocks known as mudstone from four areas in the Gale Crater. This mudstone gradually formed billions of years ago from silt that accumulated at the bottom of the ancient lake. What it discovered was organic material.
Organic molecules contain carbon and hydrogen, and also may include oxygen, nitrogen and other elements. While not a definitive sign of life it is by far the most concrete evidence that organic material has been found elsewhere besides our own planet! Read the full article from the NASA website yourself:
https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8347/nasa-finds-ancient-organic-material-mysterious-methane-on-mars/
There is a continous debate as to whether life (intelligent or otherwise) only exists on planet Earth. I'm of the mindset that life can and does exist elsewhere besides Earth. I personally believe people cannot comprehend the magnitude of what the Universe holds and has to offer. Here on our planet we squabble and fight about the petty and insignificant things that we allow to control our life, all in the name of "ego".
Infinite diversity in infinite combination is what defines everything, yet humanity will shut it's eyes in fear for lack of understanding. Maybe if you watch this next video and just try to open your mind but a little, you may allow for the posibility that... "we are not alone."
I had always expected that it was a "when" not an "if"...
Pretty exciting stuff. I read an article on this earlier today.
It also talked about methane gas in the air of mars, which is weird. It said that seasonal the methane gas increases and decreases. Methane gas is caused by organic matter breaking down....
This is very exciting! It will be interesting to see if they find anything else.