Ancient elements on the red planet
In a new discovery from the Curiosity rover, scientists have found the largest organic carbon molecules on Mars.
Organic carbon is a building block element for habitable worlds. The long-chain organic carbon is typically associated with photosynthesis in plants here on Earth.
On the curiosity rover, there is an instrument called Sample Analysis at Mars, or SAM, which is a powerful tool that enables the robot to search for these organic and inorganic compounds. With SAM, curiosity was able to find these particular organic carbon samples within rocks on the Martian surface.
University of Florida’s Amy Williams and a member of the rovers’ science team explained that because carbon points to potential signs of life, scientists like herself are thrilled when organic carbon is found on other worlds.
“Look at your hands and think about every cell inside of your body, all of that is made up of organic carbon,” Williams said. “All life on earth as we know it, everything that is and once was and will be, is made of organic carbon.”
However, while it could point to signs of life on the red planet, these large organic carbon molecules can be made in other non-biological ways. Aside from being formed with biological organisms, organic carbon can be formed by chemical reactions.
“These are not evidence for life in and of themselves, the molecules they come from are it's really interesting to see something this large that's not made by life,” Williams said. “So that's where we all are pretty intrigued by whether you know, could these come from biologic or about audit sources?”
Aside from Curiosity and its samples, its rover friend Perseverance also collects Martian samples. Perseverance is part of NASA’s Mars Sample Return Mission that aims to bring samples from Mars to Earth so scientists can better understand the Martian landscape and makeup of the planet. However, in a draft budget proposal from the White House, there are significant cuts to NASA, particularly the agency’s science programs, including some that involve Mars and Williams’s work.
“I would describe these cuts as apocalyptic,” Williams said. “It's going to shut down so much of what all of us are doing, potentially my research, those of my colleagues and those of people I don't even agree with their science, but they're doing important things as well.”
Space bandits!
In science fiction movies and shows like Star Wars and Star Trek, one popular theme is criminals that roam the galaxy. While those characters aren’t real, some think that criminals could possibly prowl through our solar system one day.
In the new book Space Piracy: Preparing for a Criminal Crisis in Orbit by Marc Feldman and Hugh Taylor, the possibility of crime is explored along with a look at the current laws that are in place to monitor crime off our home planet.
Marc Feldman is the executive director of The Center of Space, Crime, Piracy and Governance and Hugh Taylor, the director of The Center of Space, Crime, Piracy and Governance.
“While it may have been exaggerated, it is our take on the thesis of the book that there will be some extraordinarily nefarious, nasty and rather evil characters that will be inhabiting space,” Feldman said. “If not now, in the not-too-distant future as pirates and as criminals become aware of the potential of profits and plunder in space.”
Another argument from Feldman and Taylor is that the current laws in space are too weak to prevent future crime in orbit. While there are policies in place now like the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, Taylor argued that it isn’t enough to protect companies and nations from space pirates.
“In space, it's even more complicated and the treaties are helpful and not helpful in the sense that you can't really establish international sovereignty in space,” Taylor said. “There's a lot of ambiguity about which laws would apply and who would enforce them if they could be enforced.”
While Hugh and Feldman compare these potential criminals to pirates that roam the seas, the potential theft and crimes that could be carried out are different in space. While pirates on Earth may hijack ships, Taylor explained that space pirates would most likely target satellites and space equipment. Perhaps in several decades, Taylor said “you could be looking at more disruption or hijacking of space products and space industry, which is something that doesn't really exist yet.”
