NASA’s Curiosity rover has unearthed the largest organic molecules ever detected on Mars—possible fragments of fatty acids—hinting at the tantalizing possibility that prebiotic chemistry on the Red Planet may have been more advanced than previously thought.
Found in a sample from Gale Crater’s Yellowknife Bay, these molecules suggest Mars once hosted conditions suitable for complex chemical evolution, possibly even life. Although the origin of the molecules remains uncertain, their preservation and size boost hopes for finding biosignatures in future missions, especially with plans to bring Martian samples back to Earth.
Largest Organic Molecules Yet on Mars
NASA’s Curiosity rover has detected the largest organic compounds ever found on Mars. The discovery, published on March 24 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that prebiotic chemistry – the kind of chemistry that can lead to life – may have progressed further on Mars than previously thought.
Researchers reanalyzed a previously collected rock sample using Curiosity’s onboard chemistry lab, known as the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument. They identified three molecules: decane, undecane, and dodecane, which contain 10, 11, and 12 carbon atoms, respectively. These molecules are believed to be fragments of fatty acids. These are organic compounds that, on Earth, are key ingredients in the formation of life.
Life or Geology? A Mystery Remains
Fatty acids are commonly produced by living organisms to build cell membranes and carry out other functions. However, they can also form through non-biological processes, such as chemical reactions between water and minerals in environments like hydrothermal vents.
Although the origin of the molecules remains uncertain, their presence alone is a significant and exciting find for the Curiosity science team for a couple of reasons.
A Leap Toward Life’s Complexity
Curiosity scientists had previously discovered small, simple organic molecules on Mars, but finding these larger compounds provides the first evidence that organic chemistry advanced toward the kind of complexity required for an origin of life on Mars.
The new study also increases the chances that large organic molecules that can be made only in the presence of life, known as “biosignatures,” could be preserved on Mars, allaying concerns that these compounds get destroyed after tens of millions of years of exposure to intense radiation and oxidation.
A Promising Path for Mars Sample Return
This finding bodes well for plans to bring samples from Mars to Earth to analyze them with the most sophisticated instruments available here, the scientists say.
“Our study proves that, even today, by analyzing Mars samples we could detect chemical signatures of past life, if it ever existed on Mars,” said Caroline Freissinet, the lead study author and research scientist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research in the Laboratory for Atmospheres, Observations, and Space in Guyancourt, France.
Revisiting a Rich Martian Sample
In 2015, Freissinet co-led a team that, in a first, conclusively identified Martian organic molecules in the same sample that was used for the current study. Nicknamed “Cumberland,” the sample has been analyzed many times with SAM using different techniques.
Curiosity drilled the Cumberland sample in May 2013 from an area in Mars’ Gale Crater called “Yellowknife Bay.” Scientists were so intrigued by Yellowknife Bay, which looked like an ancient lakebed, they sent the rover there before heading in the opposite direction to its primary destination of Mount Sharp, which rises from the floor of the crater.
The detour was worth it: Cumberland turns out to be jam-packed with tantalizing chemical clues to Gale Crater’s 3.7-billion-year past. Scientists have previously found the sample to be rich in clay minerals, which form in water. It has abundant sulfur, which can help preserve organic molecules. Cumberland also has lots of nitrates, which on Earth are essential to the health of plants and animals, and methane made with a type of carbon that on Earth is associated with biological processes.
Yellowknife Bay: An Ancient Lakebed
Perhaps most important, scientists determined that Yellowknife Bay was indeed the site of an ancient lake, providing an environment that could concentrate organic molecules and preserve them in fine-grained sedimentary rock called mudstone.
“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,” said Daniel Glavin, senior scientist for sample return at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and a study co-author.
Surprising Discovery During Amino Acid Search
The recent organic compounds discovery was a side effect of an unrelated experiment to probe Cumberland for signs of amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins. After heating the sample twice in SAM’s oven and then measuring the mass of the molecules released, the team saw no evidence of amino acids. But they noticed that the sample released small amounts of decane, undecane, and dodecane.
Because these compounds could have broken off from larger molecules during heating, scientists worked backward to figure out what structures they may have come from. They hypothesized these molecules were remnants of the fatty acids undecanoic acid, dodecanoic acid, and tridecanoic acid, respectively.
Chain Lengths Offer Intriguing Clues
The scientists tested their prediction in the lab, mixing undecanoic acid into a Mars-like clay and conducting a SAM-like experiment. After being heated, the undecanoic acid released decane, as predicted. The researchers then referenced experiments already published by other scientists to show that the undecane could have broken off from dodecanoic acid and dodecane from tridecanoic acid.
The authors found an additional intriguing detail in their study related to the number of carbon atoms that make up the presumed fatty acids in the sample. The backbone of each fatty acid is a long, straight chain of 11 to 13 carbons, depending on the molecule. Notably, non-biological processes typically make shorter fatty acids, with less than 12 carbons.
It’s possible that the Cumberland sample has longer-chain fatty acids, the scientists say, but SAM is not optimized to detect longer chains.
SAM’s Limits and the Need for Earth-Based Labs
Scientists say that, ultimately, there’s a limit to how much they can infer from molecule-hunting instruments that can be sent to Mars. “We are ready to take the next big step and bring Mars samples home to our labs to settle the debate about life on Mars,” said Glavin.
Reference: “Long-chain alkanes preserved in a Martian mudstone” by Caroline Freissinet, Daniel P. Glavin, P. Douglas Archer, Samuel Teinturier, Arnaud Buch, Cyril Szopa, James M. T. Lewis, Amy J. Williams, Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez, Jason P. Dworkin, Heather. B. Franz, Maëva Millan, Jennifer L. Eigenbrode, R. E. Summons, Christopher H. House, Ross H. Williams, Andrew Steele, Ophélie McIntosh, Felipe Gómez, Benito Prats, Charles A. Malespin and Paul R. Mahaffy, 24 March 2025, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2420580122
More About Curiosity
This research was funded by NASA’s Mars Exploration Program. Curiosity’s Mars Science Laboratory mission is led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California; JPL is managed by Caltech for NASA. SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars) was built and tested at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. CNES (the French Space Agency) funded and provided the gas chromatograph subsystem on SAM. Charles Malespin is SAM’s principal investigator.
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1 Comment
10, 11, and 12 in straight chain saturated hydrocarbons. On Earth, the even-numbered chains are common biologics. Is there any evidence that odd-numbered hydrocarbon chains are just as common?