On June 7th 2018, NASA announced, in the Journal Science, that its Curiosity Rover has discovered the building blocks for organic life on Mars. According to the first of two new studies, Gale Crater, Curiosity's landing site, is the home of carbon-based molecules that are persevered in the sediment of what was once a great ancient lake. The other study revealed that the methane in Mar's atmosphere changes with the change of the Martian season.
Curiosity first landed on Mars in 2012. Since then it has been exploring Gale crater. It has drilled into the Martian rock and soil and taken many samples. It is these sample that have revealed what appears to be complex molecules that resemble fossilized building blocks of what would be oil and gas, here on Earth. The other discovery made by Curiosity, was that There are trace amounts of methane in the Martian atmosphere.
On Earth, 95% of the methane found in the atmosphere is produced by biological means, or life. On Mars, the amount of methane is not near that of the Earth. However, researchers have discovered the amount to be in a range in concentrations of 0.24 to 0.65 parts per billion. What researchers have found after studying the data from Curiosity, is that the methane level appears to rise in the summer and diminish in the winter.
Clearly, these findings do not yet prove the existence of life on Mars, but they do give reason for continued exploration. The discovery of complex carbon molecules and rising and falling methane levels do suggest that if Mars is no longer inhabitable, it once had life.
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