The orbiter, named Hope (Al Amal in Arabic), carries three science instruments including the Emirates Mars Infrared Spectrometer (EMIRS), an interferometric thermal infrared spectrometer developed by Philip Christensen of ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration with Christopher Edwards of NAU’s Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, in a partnership with the MBRSC.
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Mars Rover Curiosity has dug up organic material in rocks just below the surface of what’s believed to be an ancient Martian lake bed.
Planetary geologist Mark Salvatore of Flagstaff says the discovery of carbon-based molecules, butane and propane, suggest they may be the result of the breakdown of larger, more complex organic molecules—the kind that could be related to life.
“These organic molecules are really the backbone to what could form life, and the fact that we found all these… Read more