NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC), NASA, Laboratorio de Química de Plasmas y Estudios Planetarios [Mexico], Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares [Mexico], Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México = National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)-Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México = National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), NASA Ames Research Center (ARC), Laboratoire de Génie des Procédés et Matériaux - EA 4038 (LGPM), CentraleSupélec, ASU School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE), Arizona State University [Tempe] (ASU), Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques (LISA (UMR_7583)), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 (UPEC UP12)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Department of Astronomy [Ithaca], Cornell University [New York], Centro de Astrobiologia [Madrid] (CAB), Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA)-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [Madrid] (CSIC), Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology [GSFC] (CRESST), Centre de Recherche Public Henri Tudor [Technoport] (CRP Henri Tudor), Centre de Recherche Public Henri-Tudor [Luxembourg] (CRP Henri-Tudor), Department of Microbiology [Amherst], University of Massachusetts [Amherst] (UMass Amherst), University of Massachusetts System (UMASS)-University of Massachusetts System (UMASS), Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES), NASA-NASA, Geophysical Laboratory [Carnegie Institution], Carnegie Institution for Science, PLANETO - LATMOS, Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences [Atlanta], Georgia Institute of Technology [Atlanta], Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra (IACT), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [Madrid] (CSIC)-Universidad de Granada (UGR), Department of Computer Science, Electrical and Space Engineering [Luleå], Luleå University of Technology (LUT), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)-Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Carnegie Institution for Science [Washington], Universidad de Granada (UGR)-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [Madrid] (CSIC), Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 (UPEC UP12)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Cornell University, Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA)-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [Spain] (CSIC), Department of Microbiology, IMPEC - LATMOS, Universidad de Granada (UGR)-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [Spain] (CSIC), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [Madrid] (CSIC)-Universidad de Granada = University of Granada (UGR)
المصدر:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, National Academy of Sciences, 2015, 112 (14), pp.4245-4250. ⟨10.1073/pnas.1420932112⟩ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2015, 112 (14), pp.4245-4250. ⟨10.1073/pnas.1420932112⟩
International audience; The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) investigation on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover has detected oxidized nitrogen-bearing compounds during pyrolysis of scooped aeolian sediments and drilled sedimentary deposits within Gale crater. Total N concentrations ranged from 20 to 250 nmol N per sample. After subtraction of known N sources in SAM, our results support the equivalent of 110–300 ppm of nitrate in the Rocknest (RN) aeolian samples, and 70–260 and 330–1,100 ppm nitrate in John Klein (JK) and Cumberland (CB) mudstone deposits, respectively. Discovery of indigenous martian nitrogen in Mars surface materials has important implications for habitability and, specifically, for the potential evolution of a nitrogen cycle at some point in martian history. The detection of nitrate in both wind-drifted fines (RN) and in mudstone (JK, CB) is likely a result of N2 fixation to nitrate generated by thermal shock from impact or volcanic plume lightning on ancient Mars. Fixed nitrogen could have facilitated the development of a primitive nitrogen cycle on the surface of ancient Mars, potentially providing a biochemically accessible source of nitrogen.
