They also revealed how the molecules in the Martian air mix and circulate with the changes in air pressure throughout the year. The results SAM spit out confirmed the makeup of the Martian atmosphere at the surface: 95% by volume of carbon dioxide (CO 2), 2.6% molecular nitrogen (N 2), 1.9% argon (Ar), 0.16% molecular oxygen (O 2), and 0.06% carbon monoxide (CO). Over the course of 3 Mars years (or nearly 6 Earth years) an instrument in the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) portable chemistry lab inside the belly of NASA’s Curiosity rover inhaled the air of Gale Crater and analyzed its composition. As a result, they noticed something baffling: Oxygen, the gas many Earth creatures use to breathe, behaves in a way that scientists cannot yet explain through any known chemical processes. Credit: Melissa Trainer/Dan Gallagher/NASA Goddard.įor the first time in the history of space exploration, scientists have measured the seasonal changes in the gases that fill the air directly above the surface of Gale Crater on Mars. Over multiple years of observations, scientists on the Curiosity rover team have identified a seasonal trend in oxygen production and depletion that has yet to be explained.
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