Mars Curiosity rover team set to announce 'major discovery' on surface of Red Planet that 'will be one for the history books'

Rover team make finding with instrument designed to identity signs of life

'Earthshaking' discovery will be fully announced early next month



Nasa's Mars Curiosity rover has reportedly made a major discovery on the Red Planet - but scientists are keeping quiet about what it is.

The finding was made by the six-wheeled rover's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument in the Rocknest area of the Gale Crate, close to where the rover touched down.

SAM is Curiosity's on-board chemistry lab and is able to take a sample of Martian rock, soil or air and find out what it is made of.

Most importantly, it is capable of identifying organic compounds - carbon containing substances that could indicate life.



Taking bites out of Mars: Curiosity has been taking samples of Martian soil and analyzing them

Except scientists are refusing to reveal its latest finding, merely saying that it is earthshaking.

'This data is gonna be one for the history books. It's looking really good,' said John Grotzinger, chief scientist in the Curiosity team, in an interview with NPR .

Mr Grotzinger would not be drawn on what the discovery actually was. He told NPR that his team won't be ready to talk about the discovery for several weeks.

The scientist subsequently confirmed to SPACE.com that the findings will be revealed at the Autumn meeting of the American Geophysical Union, planned to begin on December 3 in San Francisco, California.

The Curiosity team needs that time to check and double check the findings to confirm that their discovery is not a fluke.



SAM is a powerful set of three instruments onboard the Curiosity rover that work together to investigate the chemistry of the Martian surface and atmosphere within Gale Crater.

Laboratory on another world: This schematic shows the range of instruments Curiosity uses on its mission Miniaturised: The Sample Analysis at Mars instrument is a powerful set of three instruments onboard the Curiosity rover that work together to investigate the chemistry of the Martian surface and atmosphere



WHAT IS THE SAM INSTRUMENT? Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) is a suite of three instruments: a gas chromatograph, a quadrupole mass spectrometer, and a tunable laser spectrometer.

Together they search for and measure the abundances of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen - elements that are associated with life as we know it.

SAM's investigations support the mission goal of quantitatively assessing the habitability of Mars, an essential step in the search for past or present life on the planet.

The search for organic molecules is particularly important in the search for life on Mars because life as we know it cannot exist without them (though they can exist without life).

SAM will be able to detect lower concentrations of a wider variety of organic molecules than any other instrument yet sent to Mars



The instrument's measurements will help scientists better understand environmental conditions over time and assess whether Mars could support and preserve evidence of microbial life, either now or at some time in its past.



Though SAM's instruments would fill a laboratory here on Earth, they have been miniaturised to roughly the size of a microwave oven in order to fit inside the Curiosity rover.



Mr Grotzinger explained to NPR that he and his team almost made a such a mistake already during the Curiosity mission, with air samples analysed by SAM.

When the instrument took its first breath of Martian air, it appeared as though there was methane in it. Here on Earth, some methane is produced as a by-product of life.

But, Mr Grotzinger said: 'We knew from the very beginning that we had this risk of having brought air from Florida. And we needed to diminish it and then make the measurement again.'

The second time they took the measurement, there was no sign of the gas.

Delicate instruments: A technician puts together the SAM instruments prior to Curiosity's launch. SAM's investigations support the mission goal of quantitatively assessing the habitability of Mars

Tomorrow, while America is busy tucking into roast turkey and treats for Thanksgiving, its interplanetary emissary on Mars will also be taking a break from its hard scientific work.



But the Curiosity team won't be idle, they will be using the rover's Mast Camera to examine possible routes and Targets for further exploration of the Red Planet.



A priority is to choose a rock for the first use of the rover's hammering drill, which will collect samples of powder from rock interiors.



The next moves come after Curiosity completed a touch-and-go inspection of one rock on Sunday, then pivoted and, on the same day, drove toward its Thanksgiving overlook location, called 'Point Lake'.



Although Curiosity has departed the Rocknest patch of windblown sand and dust the sample-handling mechanism on the rover's arm is still holding some soil from the fifth and final scoop collected there.



The rover is carrying this sample so it can be available for analysis by instruments within the rover if scientists choose that option in coming days.



A Picasso-like self portrait of Curiosity taken by its navigation cameras: Curiosity landed inside a giant impact crater near the Martian equator in August for a two-year, $2.5-billion mission

Curiosity landed inside a giant impact crater near the Martian equator in August for a two-year, $2.5-billion mission, NASA's first astrobiology expedition since the Seventies-era Viking probes.

The rover has already collected several soil samples of Martian sand and dust from the Rocknest site, with its Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument discovering it bears a remarkable resemblance to Hawaii's volcanic sand.

That instrument used an X-ray imager to reveal the atomic structures of crystals in the Martian soil, the first time the technology, known as X-ray diffraction, has been used to analyse soil beyond Earth.

Curiosity's primary goals are to assess the biological potential of Gale Crater, characterise its geology and geochemistry, to investigate the role of water at the landing site, and to measure the spectrum of surface radiation.

