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Organic molecules have been found on Mars by rovers and landers, but being organic doesn’t necessarily mean they were created by life. A new instrument on the Rosalind Franklin rover, set to launch in the 2030s, has successfully demonstrated the ability to detect chirality in organic molecules, which can indicate biological origins.
We’ve known for a long time that there are organic molecules on Mars. Rovers and landers keep turning them up wherever they look. But, “organic” simply means a molecule is made up of carbon and hydrogen atoms, not that it was created by life – there are plenty of non-biological processes that can create organic molecules. But there is one feature of organic molecules that can point very strongly in the direction of life or not – its chirality, and a new instrument on the Rosalind Franklin rover, planned for launch to Mars in the 2030s, just proved it can successfully look for it.
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