NASA's Curiosity Rover Helps Discover Nitrogen On Mars

NASA's Curiosity rover has helped in discovering yet another building block of life, Nitrogen, on Mars. In a recently published paper, researchers reported that the rover found oxidized nitrogen-bearing compounds in samples collected from three sites in Gale Crater, the 96-mile-wide basin the rover has been exploring since August 2012.

"The samples contained more nitrogen than could be accounted for from known terrestrial instrument sources, with the bulk of the nitrogen in the form of nitric oxide," scientists wrote in a summary of their research.

According to researchers, the nitric oxide may have been released from decomposing nitrates as the sample was heated for analysis.

"Terrestrial life requires a fixed form of nitrogen for synthesis of crucial biomolecules, and the discovery of indigenous fixed nitrogen in Martian rocks and sediments has implications for the past habitability potential of Mars," the researchers noted.

Nitrogen is used in the building blocks of larger molecules like DNA and RNA. It is also part of proteins which are used to build structures like hair and nails.

"There is no evidence to suggest that the fixed nitrogen molecules found by the team were created by life," NASA said in a press release about the release.

"The surface of Mars is inhospitable for known forms of life. Instead, the team thinks the nitrates are ancient, and likely came from non-biological processes like meteorite impacts and lightning in Mars' distant past," NASA added.

The rover has previously found the evidence of organic molecules and liquid water as well.

The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.