NASA's Curiosity Path has found organic material on Mars. It is the first conclusive proof that there are basic building blocks for the emergence of life on the Red Planet, just like on Earth. (Recall that the probe Philae also found organic material on the comet.)

"We made a great discovery. We found organic material on Mars, ”said Curiosity team leader John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He made his statement through a press conference at the American Geophysical Union Conference in San Francisco.

It is not yet entirely certain whether the organic material comes directly from Mars or whether it reached Mars via meteorites.

This new discovery is in line with a discovery made in the past. During it, an increased concentration of methane was detected in the atmosphere of Mars. A brand new discovery is the turning point of the mission, which began 2,5 years ago inside a 96-kilometer-wide crater called Gale.

On Earth, more than 90% of atmospheric methane is made up of biological processes. The rest is then a product of geological processes.

The explanation for both phenomena, the presence of organic compounds and methane in the atmosphere, requires further analysis to rule out that the substances originate in Earth.

"It's not easy to get data from a lab like this when left alone on another planet," scientist Roger Summors of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology told reporters.

Whether the organic material on Mars came from comets or asteroids or a natural path directly on the surface of Mars, it is still difficult life. Planet Mars is constantly bombarded by cosmic rays that destroy organic matter. The surface of Mars is strongly oxidizing, which causes the breakdown of molecular bonds. Chloristan also produces chlorine, which affects the change of molecules.

Scientists around the Curiosity Project hope to find other organic compounds that will have a more complex molecular structure.