NASA finds 3 bn years old organic molecules in rocks on Mars
Washington, June 8 : NASA announced on Thursday that its robot explorer Curiosity, which landed on Mars in 2012 and has been exploring there ever since, found organic molecules in rocks formed three billion years ago, a discovery that could indicate that there was life on the Red Planet at that time.
Paul Mahaffy, Director of NASA's Solar System exploration division, said that although this is an exciting discover scientists still cannot confirm how the molecules originated.
They could be evidence for the development of ancient life on Mars but they could also have come from a meteorite or other sources, Efe reported.
Despite the fact that it is still not clear how these molecules were created, NASA emphasized that these kinds of particles could have been the food source for hypothetical microbial life on Mars.
Jennifer Eigenbrode, with the NASA's Goddard Space Center in Maryland, said that the organic molecules found on Mars do not provide specific evidence of life since "they could have come from things that are non-biological".
In any case, however, the molecules may provide key information to scientists in their continuing search for life on Mars, since "All life that we know of is based on organic molecules," Eigenbrode explained.
She said that although the surface of Mars is presently "inhospitable", indications are that in the distant past the Martian climate allowed liquid water to exist on the planet's surface.
The data gathered by Curiosity reveal that billions of years ago there was a shallow lake of water inside the Gale Crater on Mars that contained all the ingredients necessary for life as we know it, including chemical building blocks and energy sources.
Eigenbrode said that -- now that potential signs of ancient life have been found -- future missions to Mars will delve deeper into the issue of organic molecules and other possible markers for life.
Curiosity found the first indications of water on Mars in 2013 and it also determined that the concentration of methane in the planet's thin atmosphere fluctuates regularly with the Martian seasons.
Although the origin of the gas is unknown, scientists say it could have been trapped underground as a byproduct of organic processes in the distant past and is now slowly seeping out.
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India to get first national security semiconductor fabrication plant
Wilmington (PTI): Under a transformative collaboration with the US, India will get a national security semiconductor fabrication plant that will produce chips for use in military hardware and next-generation telecommunications.
The India-US joint project was announced following talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden in Wilmington on Saturday.
A joint fact sheet on Modi-Biden talks said the two leaders "hailed" the semiconductor project as a "watershed arrangement".
It will be the first ever India-US semiconductor fabrication partnership.
It is the first time ever the US military has agreed to do a partnership for these highly-value technologies with India and it is a watershed moment as it is as significant as the civil nuclear deal, people familiar with the matter said.
"President Biden and Prime Minister Modi hailed a watershed arrangement to establish a new semiconductor fabrication plant focused on advanced sensing, communication, and power electronics for national security, next-generation telecommunications, and green energy applications," the fact sheet noted.
It said the "fab, which will be established with the objective of manufacturing infrared, gallium nitride and silicon carbide semiconductors, will be enabled by support from the India semiconductor mission as well as a strategic technology partnership between Bharat Semi, 3rdiTech, and the US Space Force."
The Fab becomes not only India’s first, but one of the world's first multi-material fabs for national security, the people cited above said.
The fact sheet said Modi and Biden praised combined efforts to facilitate resilient, secure, and sustainable semiconductor supply chains including through GlobalFoundries' (GF) creation of the GF Kolkata Power Center in Kolkata.
It said the project will enhance mutually beneficial linkages in research and development in chip manufacturing.
"The leaders welcomed steps our industry is taking to build safe, secure, and resilient supply chains for US, Indian, and international automotive markets, including through Ford Motor Company's submission of a Letter of Intent to utilize its Chennai plant to manufacture for export to global markets," the document said.
It said Modi and Biden commended ongoing efforts to build more expansive cooperation around 5G deployment and next-generation telecommunications.
This includes the US Agency for International Development's plans to expand the Asia Open RAN Academy with an initial USD 7 million investment to grow this workforce training initiative worldwide, including in South Asia with Indian institutions.
