Evidence of Ancient Nitrogen-rich Martian Underground Found by Scientists in Antarctica

In 1984, explorers discovered tiny pieces of a 4-billion-year-old rock from the Martian surface in Antarctica. Decades following the discovery, many questions surfaced such as the rock coming from Mars. Recently, Japanese researchers studied these meteorites and discovered traces of ancient waters rich with nitrogen and carbon.

It was named Allan Hills 840001 based on the location where the bits were found. Many debated whether they came from Mars or Earth because of the organic components they have.

There is also a possibility that organic components from Antarctica have mixed in the meteorites. They also think that they might have been contaminated in a lab.

After the Japanese researchers studied these tiny pieces of rock thoroughly, the result of their study suggests that the organic materials are from Mars and have nitrogen. These organic nitrogen components imply that the same kind of nitrogen on Earth would be accessible if there is life existing on Mars. Nevertheless, it remains a mystery whether the ancient oceans on Mars had living creatures.