Discovery of boron on Mars adds to evidence for habitability
Discovery of boron on Mars adds to evidence for habitability
PHYS.ORG, Provided by: Los Alamos National Laboratory, September 5, 2017
A selfie of the NASA Curiosity rover at the Murray Buttes in Gale Crater, Mars, a location where boron was found in light-toned calcium sulfate veins. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
The discovery of boron on Mars gives scientists more clues about whether life could have ever existed on the planet, according to a paper published today in the journal Geophysical Research Letters .
"Because borates may play an important role in making RNA—one of the building blocks of life —finding boron on Mars further opens the possibility that life could have once arisen on the planet," said Patrick Gasda, a postdoctoral researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory and lead author on the paper. "Borates are one possible bridge from simple organic molecules to RNA. Without RNA, you have no life. The presence of boron tells us that, if organics were present on Mars, these chemical reactions could have occurred."
RNA (ribonucleic acid) is a nucleic acid present in all modern life, but scientists have long hypothesized an "RNA World," where the first proto-life was made of individual RNA strands that both contained genetic information and could copy itself. A key ingredient of RNA is a sugar called ribose. But sugars are notoriously unstable; they decompose quickly in water. The ribose would need another element there to stabilize it. That's where boron comes in. When boron is dissolved in water—becoming borate—it will react with the ribose and stabilize it for long enough to make RNA. "We detected borates in a crater on Mars that's 3.8 billion years old, younger than the likely formation of life on Earth," said Gasda. "Essentially, this tells us that the conditions from which life could have potentially grown may have existed on ancient Mars, independent from Earth."
The boron found on Mars was discovered in calcium sulfate mineral veins, meaning the boron was present in Mars groundwater, and provides another indication that some of the groundwater in Gale Cater was habitable, ranging between 0-60 degrees Celsius (32-140 degrees Fahrenheit) and with neutral-to-alkaline pH.
The boron was identified by the rover's laser-shooting ChemCam (Chemistry and Camera) instrument, which was developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in conjunction with the French space agency. Los Alamos' work on discovery-driven instruments like ChemCam stems from the Laboratory's experience building and operating more than 500 spacecraft instruments for national defense.
The discovery of boron is only one of several recent findings related to the composition of Martian rocks. Curiosity is climbing a layered Martian mountain and finding chemical evidence of how ancient lakes and wet underground environments changed, billions of years ago, in ways that affected their potential favorability for microbial life.
As the rover has progressed uphill, compositions trend toward more clay and more boron. These and other chemical variations can tell us about conditions under which sediments were initially deposited and about how later groundwater moving through the accumulated layers altered and transported dissolved elements, including boron.
Whether Martian life has ever existed is still unknown. No compelling evidence for it has been found. When Curiosity landed in Mars' Gale Crater in 2012 the mission's main goal was to determine whether the area ever offered a habitable environment, which has since been confirmed. The Mars 2020 rover will be equipped with an instrument called "SuperCam," developed by Los Alamos and an instrument called SHERLOC, which was developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory with significant participation by Los Alamos. Both of these will search for signs of past life on the planet.
Explore further: 'Halos' discovered on Mars widen time frame for potential life
More information: Patrick J. Gasda et al, In situ detection of boron by ChemCam on Mars, Geophysical Research Letters (2017). DOI: 10.1002/2017GL074480
Journal reference: Geophysical Research Letters 
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Each discovery by the NASA Curiosity rover is more exciting than the last.
This has given me a great idea for a Science Fiction story, that a billion years ago Earth was actually colonized by humans and animals that lived on Mars until that planet was no longer viable to sustain life - so they traveled to Earth in a huge space ship captained by a man named "Noah".
(It's necessary to ignore the scientific evidence establishing evolution to appreciate such a story.)
Cool seed.
There’s a theory called "panspermia" that posits the transfer of life from one world to another. RNA, as described here, could ride on fragmented rock across billions of miles..
I agree with that theory. The question of how a piece of matter can be shot up against gravity to travel through space can be answered by a particularly explosive volcano, or an asteroid colliding with a planet and spewing debris from the collision into space. A fragment arriving at another planet would have to be lange enough and resistent enough to withstand the heat from entering its atmosphere in order to reach the planet's surface.
IMO really interesting thoughts.
The odds against it happening are astronomic. ... But of course that what astronomy is all about.
Zillions of planets over billions of years... anything is possible...
The odds against it happening are astronomic. ... But of course that what astronomy is all about.
Zillions of planets over billions of years... anything is possible...
E.A Drake equation is Zero accuracy, since no statistics can be made by " One Known Factor "?
Now as to RNA/DNA , neither can exist without a " membrane ", but that aside::
See 10^ 29345 .......( Amino Acids X Proteins Odds )............. Compare it with 10^50/80/212 then I be eager to listen to what the Odds are :-)
The Drake equation is fun, but basically "garbage in / garbage out". With lots of unknowns... anything is possible.
It's the millions of monkeys typing Shakespeare. Big numbers get weird.
09/06/17 08:30:13AM @bob-nelson:
..
It's the millions of monkeys typing Shakespeare. Big numbers get weird
E.A False equivalence::
No matter how many " One Arm Bandits " one has the odds do NOT change.
No matter how many " One Arm Bandits " one has the odds do NOT change.
Depends on what we are talking about. The odds of any particular machine winning are unchanged, but the odds of any machine winning rise with the number of machines.
If the odds of any one machine winning within the next minute are 1/1000, then the odds of winning with a million machines is a statistical certainty.
09/06/17 11:42:40PM @bob-nelson:
No matter how many " One Arm Bandits " one has the odds do NOT change.
Depends on what we are talking about. The odds of any particular machine winning are unchanged, but the odds of any machine winning rise with the number of machines.
If the odds of any one machine winning within the next minute are 1/1000, then the odds of winning with a million machines is a statistical certainty.
E.A Take the time and reason on it, if in doubt Do a mathematical model, Just by adding anothere "; typewriter " or " Poker machine " Changes nothing.
Here is a little bit that you can look up, see the " Test " that was rigged, for making amino acids,
Now read what they had to so as soon as the amino acid was formed, ( If it was not removed the next spark would turn it to Tar ) how realistic was that?
Now also ask, was " Oxygen present " if not why not and how could any lifeform survive?
Adding an extra machine just " waters down " the odds it does not increase them!
100 - 1 now becomes 101 -1
Please don't talk One-arm bandits to me. My first trip to Las Vegas was for a convention. and being my first time in a casino, I bought $10 worth of dollar tokens, put my first token into the machine, pulled the arm, and 100 $1 tokens came out. Let me tell you that that is the worst thing that can happen to a person. I was hooked. One machine at a time wasn't enough so I started sitting between two of them pulling both arms at the same time and was noticed by casino staff who came over and gave me a VIP card. By the time it was time to go home I had only $100 in chips left and no money. I called my ex-wife back in Toronto and asked her what she thought I should do. She said to put them all on number 18 on the roulette table. I walked over to a roulette table, saw that the 18 was all covered up with other people's chips so I didn't bother putting mine down, and you guessed it. 18 was the number that came up and it would have paid me $3000 to go home with, but I cashed in my chips and went home with $100.
Very cool read.
I was listening to a BBC broadcast while driving from SLC to my new home in Colorado that focused exclusively on Silicon and the fact that silicon has to exist for life to exist and how we manipulate silicon to create some amazingly vast results as far as technology goes. Like, everybody knows about Silicon Valley, but rarely do people think about what that really means and why it is so important to the world and life in general. Very interesting.
I didn't know much about Boron, so it was good to further expand upon that by reading this article. I was also watching something with Elon Musk recently, talking about how and when he projects us having our first manned expedition to Mars.
Boron occurs naturally here on earth-- why couldn't it occur naturally on Mars? We have a lot of boron here in the Fluorspar district in Western KY. It's a really pretty mineral, as well...
The distribution of minerals in each planet can be different based in part on the mass of the planet. In addition, finding boron on the surface is significant.
I'm sure! I'm not contradicting what you say, and finding boron on the surface IS significant-- but it's an every day occurrence here in KY... We just don't know enough about the geology of Mars, as yet...
In addition, what minerals are located a few feet below the surface? Just a question!
Most terrestrial minerals are probably located somewhere in the Martian crust, unless they need water to form. There certainly was vulcanism on Mars.
09/09/17 07:26:18PM @cerenkov:
Most terrestrial minerals are probably located somewhere in the Martian crust, unless they need water to form. There certainly was vulcanism on Mars.
E.A True in part see ALH 84001 and also look up what I said about it, and the other 17 similar " miracles "
There may have been running water, too... WAY in the past.
09/09/17 06:55:50PM @dowser:
..
In addition, what minerals are located a few feet below the surface? Just a question!
E.A for that do a search on " Mars Vents " 100 X 90 Meters , and one has to wonder why they want to dig down ONE meter and spend all that effort and $$$$s
Because a lot of times, at least here on earth, there may be completely different rocks a few feet down than at the surface. I once got to attend a seminar with Harrison Schmitt, who was on the last mission to the moon. All of us, as geologists, are just dying to go up to the moon and drill-- who knows what we'll find! There are all kinds of volcanic or igneous rocks that could help insure a moon colony could thrive. A lot of the rocks contain water, in their makeup, so we may be able to produce water from the rocks. THAT would be a real help on Mars...
09/09/17 10:25:26PM @dowser:
Because a lot of times, at least here on earth, there may be completely different rocks a few feet down than at the surface. I once got to attend a seminar with Harrison Schmitt, who was on the last mission to the moon.
E.A Indeed so, the point I made above, and if you did look at My Photobucket Album and the " Mars Vents " you would have understood how critical it is to make use of those vents, not just for Geology and Chronology, but also for Chemistry, and Habitation gases.
Now as for the Moon, Look up the " Missing Isotope on Lunar Soils " and then I think we will be in agreement of HOW critical it is to have the right Chemistry, when making assumptions, That " missing Isotope " set Lunar missions back to where we are now, none existent.
09/09/17 06:41:48PM @dowser:
Boron occurs naturally here on earth-- why couldn't it occur naturally on Mars? We have a lot of boron here in the Fluorspar district in Western KY. It's a really pretty mineral, as well...
E.A If I may::
It was not the Boron that was the issue but the Arse Umption about RNA see what I had to say about that and why that was a " Big Stretch " of all known Science! for a " religious " comment.
NB: I View ALL Science as a " re ligion " see original word meaning