NASA study: non-biologic processes don't fully explain Mars organics

NASA researchers say non-biological sources they considered could not fully account for the abundance of organic compounds in a sample collected on Mars by the Curiosity rover. In March 2025, scientists identified small amounts of decane, undecane, and dodecane in a rock sample analyzed in the chemistry lab aboard the rover. These were the largest organic compounds found on Mars, and researchers hypothesized they could be fragments of fatty acids preserved in ancient mudstone in Gale Crater. A follow-on study evaluated known non-biological sources of these organic molecules, such as delivery by meteorites smashing into the Martian surface. Reporting on Feb. 4 in the journal Astrobiology, researchers say that since the non-biological sources they considered could not fully explain the abundance of organic compounds, it is reasonable to hypothesize that living things could have formed them. To reach their conclusion, scientists combined lab radiation experiments, mathematical modeling, and Curiosity data to estimate conditions about 80 million years ago. This allowed them to determine that far more organic material would have been present before being destroyed by long-term exposure to cosmic radiation than typical non-biological processes could produce. The team says more study is needed to better understand how quickly organic molecules break down in Mars-like rock under Mars-like conditions before any conclusions can be reached about the absence or presence of life.