Boron on Mars
scientific Discovery
Researchers in December 2016 announced the discovery by the Curiosity rover of the element boron in mineral veins on the planet Mars. No other mission to Mars has found boron. However, boron was found in Martian meteorites that included MIZ 09030 in 2013, MIL 09030, Nakhla, Lafayette, and Chassigny.
For boron to be present in the veins there must have been a temperature between 0-60 degrees Celsius and a neutral-to-alkaline pH. The temperature, pH, and dissolved minerals of the groundwater support a habitable environment.
Moreover, boron has been suggested to be necessary for life to form. Its presence stabilizes the sugar ribose which is an ingredient in RNA. Ribose would rapidly decompose in water without boron being present. On Earth, boron compounds may have been needed to link the organic compounds that were produced without life into RNA-like molecules that were used for the very first life forms.
Curiosity investigations
Initial measurements reveal that the Gale Crater veins have between 10–100 ppm Boron. One possible explanation for borates in veins is that Gale Lake evaporated, depositing evaporites, including borates. Later, Gale Crater was partially buried, and then it turned to rock.
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