Ancient Organics Discovered on Mars - Broadcast Graphics

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    ID: 12962 Produced Video

    Searching for Signs of Life on Mars

    May 24th, 2018
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    The European Space Agency's Rosalind Franklin rover will search for signs of life on Mars, using a NASA-built instrument called MOMA. Complete transcript available.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Music provided by Killer Tracks: "Fast Motion" by Stephen Daniel Lemaire, "Game Show Spheres 5-6" by Anselm Kreuzer, "Floating" by Ben Niblett & Jon Cotton || One of the biggest questions in planetary science is whether life ever arose on Mars, and NASA and the European Space Agency are sending a cutting-edge instrument to the red planet to find out. The Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer, or MOMA, is a sophisticated suite of technologies that squeezes a lab full of chemistry equipment into a package the size of a toaster. MOMA will travel to Mars aboard ESA's Rosalind Franklin rover (formerly ExoMars), where it will search for evidence of past or present life.MOMA will not only search for organic molecules, which make up all life on Earth, it will also analyze their structure using its linear ion trap – the first use of this technology on Mars. Doing so will help scientists to determine whether the molecules could be of biological origin, a significant leap forward in the search for life beyond Earth.MOMA's mass spectrometer subsystem and main electronics were built at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The pulsed UV laser and high-temperature ovens were developed in Germany, and the gas chromatograph in France. The Rosalind Franklin rover is a component of ExoMars, the primary Mars exploration program of the European Space Agency. Learn more at nasa.gov or download animations of MOMA. ||

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  • 
    ID: 20231 Animation

    Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer: Animations

    May 24th, 2018
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    MOMA uses ultraviolet laser pulses to release and ionize organic compounds captured within crushed Martian surface and near-surface materials. Because each laser pulse lasts less than two billionths of a second, this process effectively ionizes more heat-resistant materials than those accessed by traditional oven-heating (pyrolysis) methods. Pulsed laser processing preserves weak molecular bonds, and enables the identification of organic compounds even in the presence of highly reactive perchlorates commonly found in Martian surface materials. ||

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  • 
    ID: 10274 Produced Video

    Need To Know: Sample Analysis at Mars Findings

    Dec. 16th, 2014
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    NASA scientist Danny Glavin discusses the most recent findings by the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument suite (SAM). This includes variations in methane levels in the atmosphere and the first definitive detection of organic molecules on the Red Planet.For complete transcript, click here. || There’s big news coming out of the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument suite (SAM) on NASA’s Curiosity rover. For the first time, organic matter has definitively been detected on Mars. In addition to finding organic compounds in rocks, SAM has also detected sharp increases and decreases in methane levels in the atmosphere. MSL participating scientist, Danny Glavin, explains these findings and what they tell us about our search for life on the Red Planet. ||

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  • 
    ID: 12561 Produced Video

    Possible Methane Sources and Sinks on Mars

    Dec. 16th, 2014
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    There are several possible ways that methane can be created, stored, and released on Mars, including both biological and non-biological pathways. || This illustration portrays possible ways that methane might be added to Mars' atmosphere (sources) and removed from the atmosphere (sinks). NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has detected fluctuations in methane concentration in the atmosphere, implying both types of activity occur in the modern environment of Mars.A molecule of methane consists of one atom of carbon and four atoms of hydrogen. Methane can be generated by microbes and can also be generated by processes that do not require life, such as reactions between water and olivine (or pyroxene) rock. Ultraviolet radiation (UV) can induce reactions that generate methane from other organic chemicals produced by either biological or non-biological processes, such as comet dust falling on Mars. Methane generated underground in the distant or recent past might be stored within lattice-structured methane hydrates called clathrates, and released by the clathrates at a later time, so that methane being released to the atmosphere today might have formed in the past.Winds on Mars can quickly distribute methane coming from any individual source, reducing localized concentration of methane. Methane can be removed from the atmosphere by sunlight-induced reactions (photochemistry). These reactions can oxidize the methane, through intermediary chemicals such as formaldehyde and methanol, into carbon dioxide, the predominant ingredient in Mars' atmosphere.Learn more about the detection of methane on Mars. ||

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  • 
    ID: 11018 Produced Video

    Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Overview

    June 29th, 2012
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    This video gives a short overview of the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) suite of instruments inside the Curiosity Rover. ||

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  • 
    ID: 11021 B-Roll

    Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM): Broadcast-Quality B-roll

    June 29th, 2012
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    Below are broadcast-quality b-roll clips of integration, testing, and fabrication of instruments on board the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) suite of instruments. ||

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  • 
    ID: 3574 Visualization

    Methane Plume on Mars

    Jan. 15th, 2009
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    The first definitive detection of methane in the atmosphere of Mars indicates the planet is alive in the sense that it still has geologic activity powered by heat from its interior, according to a team of NASA and university scientists. The team used spectrometer instruments attached to several telescopes to detect plumes of methane that were emitted from specific sites during the warmer seasons - spring and summer. Though nothing conclusive can yet be determined, it is possible that the detected methane was either produced by geologic processes such as the oxidation of iron (serpentinization) or by microscopic Martian life below the planet's surface. The methane released today could be produced currently, or it could be ancient methane trapped in ice 'cages' called clathrates or as gas below a sub-surface ice layer. ||

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  • 
    ID: 10363 Produced Video

    The Mystery of Martian Methane

    Jan. 15th, 2009
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    Mike Mumma and his team of researchers at Goddard Space Flight Center have made the first definitive observations of methane in the atmosphere of Mars. The evidence of methane plumes only during certain seasons and the chemical processes that could lead to its possible sources both raise intriguing questions for future study.For complete transcript, click here. || For More Information || See [http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/news/marsmethane.html](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/news/marsmethane.html) ||

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    ID: 12951 Produced Video

    Ancient Organics Discovered on Mars

    June 7th, 2018
    (updated Aug. 25th, 2023)

    The Curiosity rover has discovered ancient organic molecules on Mars, embedded within sedimentary rocks that are billions of years old. Complete transcript available.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Music provided by Killer Tracks: "Crystalline" by Enrico Cacace & Manuel Bandettini, "Based On True Events" by Eric Chevalier, "Mirrored Cubes" by Laurent Dury, "Lost In The Sky" by Matthews Samar || Since arriving at Mars in 2012, NASA's Curiosity rover has drilled into rocks in search of organics – molecules containing carbon. Organics are the building blocks of all life on Earth, though they can also come from non-living sources. The surface of Mars readily destroys these molecules, making them difficult to detect. Now, Curiosity has discovered ancient organics that have been preserved in rocks for billions of years. This finding helps scientists better understand the habitability of early Mars, and it paves the way for future missions to the Red Planet.Learn more about this discovery, or visit NASA's Mars Exploration Program. For an in-depth explanation of the results, watch the NASA-TV broadcast featuring members of the Curiosity science team. ||

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