Gale crater

Spacecraft exploration

The first organic molecules found in Gale crater were simple aromatic, S-heterocycles, and aliphatic organic molecules. In research done by a very large group of scientists, over 20 organic molecules from clay-bearing sandstones were described. They were discovered in the ~3.5-billion-year-old Knockfarrill Hill member of Glen Torridon, Gale crater, by the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument suite onboard the Curiosity rover. It can't be determined how these molecules were made. They could be exogenous (e.g., meteoritic, cometary, or interplanetary dust particles) or endogenous (e.g., abiotically or biologically produced).