1 00:00:00,020 --> 00:00:04,040 (Music) 2 00:00:04,060 --> 00:00:08,140 (Music) 3 00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:12,250 (Music) 4 00:00:12,270 --> 00:00:16,270 (Music) 5 00:00:16,290 --> 00:00:20,410 SAM stands for the Sample Analysis at 6 00:00:20,430 --> 00:00:24,590 Mars instrument suite. It's really one of the most complex and analytical 7 00:00:24,610 --> 00:00:28,620 chemistry laboratories ever sent to the surface of the Red Planet. It's been 8 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:32,750 miniaturized to fit right into the body of the Mars Science Laboratory 9 00:00:32,770 --> 00:00:36,910 Curiosity Rover. One of the major goals of the Mars Science Laboratory mission 10 00:00:36,930 --> 00:00:40,950 is to search for habitable environments in Gale Crater. And by by habitable 11 00:00:40,970 --> 00:00:45,020 environments, what I'm talking about are environments that could have supported life. 12 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:49,040 (Music) 13 00:00:49,060 --> 00:00:53,090 So there are several pieces of big news that SAM has found. 14 00:00:53,110 --> 00:00:57,180 The first is the discovery of methane. Now methane has been 15 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:01,200 found previously in the Martian atmosphere by both Earth-based telescopes 16 00:01:01,220 --> 00:01:05,250 and space-borne orbiters. But this is the first time that we've actually 17 00:01:05,270 --> 00:01:09,370 seen a sharp increase and decrease in the abundance of methane in the atmosphere 18 00:01:09,390 --> 00:01:13,420 in Gale Crater. What this really means is that present day Mars is an active 19 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:17,500 environment. Now at this point we don't know the origin of this methane. 20 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:21,630 It could be biological, from maybe methanogenic bacteria 21 00:01:21,650 --> 00:01:25,760 deep in the subsurface releasing methane. But there are non-biological explanations 22 00:01:25,780 --> 00:01:29,780 as well - such as water-rock interactions in the subsurface that could also 23 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:33,840 produce the methane signals that we're seeing. The second exciting discovery 24 00:01:33,860 --> 00:01:37,940 from SAM is the detection of Martian organic compounds. 25 00:01:37,960 --> 00:01:41,960 We found several different types of organic molecules including chlorinated alkanes 26 00:01:41,980 --> 00:01:46,030 and chlorobenzene - compounds that are not common on Earth - in a mudstone 27 00:01:46,050 --> 00:01:50,130 that was deposited in an ancient lakebed environment in Gale Crater. 28 00:01:50,150 --> 00:01:54,180 This is a really exciting discovery because we've been looking for organic compounds for decades 29 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:58,250 on the surface of Mars. And this is the first time that we've actually found 30 00:01:58,270 --> 00:02:02,320 Martian organic material in the surface. Now, at 31 00:02:02,340 --> 00:02:06,360 this point we don't have enough evidence to tell us whether or not the organics 32 00:02:06,380 --> 00:02:10,500 we're finding are biological or non-biological in origin. There are 33 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:14,590 several viable non-biological explanations, including this organic 34 00:02:14,610 --> 00:02:18,640 material could have come down from space - from meteorites or comets. Or, 35 00:02:18,660 --> 00:02:22,770 organics can be formed by geological reactions in the rock itself. 36 00:02:22,790 --> 00:02:26,800 Now what's exciting about this discovery is it gives us new hope 37 00:02:26,820 --> 00:02:30,870 in the search for chemical evidence of life. We've found the organic material, 38 00:02:30,890 --> 00:02:34,970 now the next step is trying to figure out what its origin is. 39 00:02:34,990 --> 00:02:39,070 (Music) 40 00:02:39,090 --> 00:02:43,120 So in addition to the measurements made by SAM on Mars, we've had 41 00:02:43,140 --> 00:02:47,140 to do hundreds of laboratory experiments back on Earth to simulate 42 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:51,260 the conditions on the surface of the Red Planet in order to convince ourselves 43 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:55,400 that the organic material we were detecting by SAM was really Martian in origin 44 00:02:55,420 --> 00:02:59,460 and not something that we had brought with us to Mars. 45 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:03,520 (Music) 46 00:03:03,540 --> 00:03:07,620 So although at this point in the mission we can't conclude that there was definitively life 47 00:03:07,640 --> 00:03:11,650 on Mars, the SAM discoveries have really shown us that all of the basic 48 00:03:11,670 --> 00:03:15,710 ingredients for life were there - including complex organic compounds, 49 00:03:15,730 --> 00:03:19,830 the building blocks of life. Now with the detection of organics in Gale 50 00:03:19,850 --> 00:03:23,940 Crater, the probability that Gale Crater Lake could have supported life 51 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:28,020 goes up. 52 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:32,150 (Beeping) 53 00:03:32,170 --> 00:03:36,210 (Beeping) 54 00:03:36,230 --> 00:03:36,330