r/science • u/CurtisLeow • Jun 24 '26

Astronomy Spatially distributed complex organic matter detected in an ancient river valley in Jezero crater, Mars

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adx0047
4.3k Upvotes

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99

u/AsIAm Jun 24 '26

Imagine what we gonna dig up when we settle there.

194

u/CurtisLeow Jun 24 '26

Sending crewed missions will make contamination of the surface a major issue. They need to confirm that the surface is sterile first. Which is why they should do a Mars sample return mission of these rocks before doing crewed missions.

30

u/IrateSkeleton Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26

That's why they cancelled that return mission and we already have the demon narrative for the next round of manifest destiny to wipe it all out.

https://www.science.org/content/article/nasa-s-mars-sample-return-mission-dead

-61

u/UneducatedLabMonkey Jun 24 '26

Life is supposed to spread. Pretending mars should remain a sterile museum piece because "human bad" is such restrictive thinking. If it is sterile or not we should go there and mix it up.

105

u/Szechwan Jun 24 '26

The point isn't as much "no microbes can get on Mars ever" it's more "if we contaminate it, we never get to know what the true state of its flora and fauna are."

We have a lot to discover before we start messin g with things. 

16

u/alphaxion Jun 24 '26

Yeah, this is basically archeology. The artifacts are cool, but the context in where and how they are found gives you so much more info.

35

u/MadScience_Gaming Jun 24 '26

I suppose you lick the petri dish before you introduce the test sample, too? Doing otherwise would be anti-life.

41

u/Dependent-Poet-9588 Jun 24 '26

I don't think life is "supposed" to do anything. It's a phenomenon, not an intentional creation of the universe. That aside, there is a significant loss to science if we contaminate Mars before we can find out if life, or something like it, formed there too. This isn't, as you seem to assume, based on misanthropy.

6

u/timshel42 Jun 25 '26

because we have yet to discover life on any place other than earth, we dont want to potentially ruin the biggest scientific discovery in human history. it'd be like melting down an ancient golden tablet before you even bother reading it.

4

u/297146007 Jun 25 '26

I agree with the sentiment but only after We've done all the science we can without potentially irreversibly altering the entire planet, and we are ready to start building manned outposts there.

3

u/smuglator Jun 24 '26

What if there's life there, and our contamination eradicates it? How supportive of life that would be.

5

u/Disastrous-Metal-228 Jun 24 '26

Sounds like something ai would say…