Overview
- NASA’s Curiosity rover reported in March 2025 that it found Decan, Undecan and Dodecan in Gale Crater, the largest organic molecules yet identified on Mars.
- Alexander Pavlov’s team combined lab work, models and rover data to rewind about 80 million years of cosmic-radiation damage, inferring an initial organic inventory far above what known abiotic sources can supply.
- The researchers stress they are not claiming proof of life and urge multiple independent lines of evidence, including better constraints on how fast organics break down in Mars-like rocks.
- A separate Astrobiology paper led by Steven Benner reinterprets Viking’s 1976 results, arguing perchlorates likely destroyed organics during heating and proposing a BARSOOM microbial scenario consistent with Viking’s positive life-detection signals.
- Recent U.S. cuts to the NASA–ESA Mars Sample Return effort jeopardize the most definitive path to resolve the origin of Martian organics, prompting calls for targeted life-detection missions.