"Our study proves that, even today, by analyzing Mars samples we could detect chemical signatures of past life, if it ever existed on Mars," stated Caroline Freissinet, the study's lead author and research scientist at France's National Centre for Scientific Research in the Laboratory for Atmospheres and Space Observations in Guyancourt.
Nicknamed the "Cumberland sample," the organic compounds were drilled in 2013 from a 3.7 billion-year-old rock sample at Yellowknife Bay inside the Gale Crater, where the rover has moved more than 20 miles since landing in 2012 in a region thought to be an ancient lakebed where clay minerals, sulfuric, nitrate and methane compounds were found. All are needed to sustain life.
But while researchers stop short of claiming to have found a biosignature that indicated life once as present on Mars, one expert suggests the scientific material was the best chance they had to identify remains of any life on the planet.
Curiosity detected this round much larger organics, particuarly decane, undecane and dodecane.
"There is evidence that liquid water existed in Gale Crater for millions of years and probably much longer, which means there was enough time for life-forming chemistry to happen in these crater-lake environments on Mars," Daniel Glavin, a study co-author and senior scientist for sample return at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, M.D.
Glavin said officials are "ready to take the next big step" to bring samples from Mars back to Earth in order to "settle the debate about life on Mars."
"The findings reported in this paper present the best chance we have seen for identifying the remains of life on Mars," John Eiler, a professor of geology and geochemistry at the California Institute of Technology, told The Guardian.
"But sealing the deal absolutely requires return of such samples to Earth," he said.
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