DETECTING AMINO ACIDS ON MARS

摘要

Understanding the events that led to the origin of life on Earth is complicated by the lack of geological evidence from the period around 4 billion years (4 Gyr) ago when the transition from prebiotic chemistry to biochemistry is believed to have occurred. Although erosion and plate tectonics have since erased the terrestrial geological record from the time of the origin of life, there is a possibility that information about this period of Earth history may still be preserved on Mars. Compared with Earth, Mars is a more placid planet. Surface alteration rates are minimal, and there is no known plate tectonic activity. Extensive areas of the Martian surface may date to > 4 Gyr ago . Geomorphologic evidence suggests that liquid water existed on the Martian surface at some point in the past and that early Mars may have had an atmosphere similar to that of early Earth. If this is the case, then at least some of the steps leading to the origin of terrestrial biochemistry may have also taken place