Research findings by NASA scientists appear to raise the odds of confirming the existence of past life in the solar system, and of finding other biologically viable planets in the extended universe. NASA’s Curiosity rover has gathered soil materials from Mars that indicate at least a several percent presence of water by weight.
Curiosity is the first rover on Mars capable of gathering and processing rock and soil samples. Curiosity uses a Sample Analysis at Mars instrument suite (SAM), including gas chromatography, mass spectrometry and tunable laser spectrometry to identify chemical compounds and isotopic ratios capable of showing evidence of water, as well as at least trace levels of organic compounds.
Laurie Leshin, dean of the School of Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute reported recently, “One of the most exciting results from this very first solid sample ingested by Curiosity is the high percentage of water in the soil.”
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