NASA's Curiosity rover finds large carbon deposits on Mars

Research from NASA's Curiosity rover has found evidence of a carbon cycle on ancient Mars, bringing scientists closer to an answer on whether the Red Planet was ever capable of supporting life.

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Lead author Dr. Ben Tutolo, PhD, an associate professor with the Department of Earth, Energy and Environment in the Faculty of Science at the University of Calgary, is a participating scientist on the NASA Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover team.

The team is working to understand climate transitions and habitability on ancient Mars as Curiosity explores Gale Crater.

The paper, published this week in the journal Science, reveals that data from three of Curiosity's drill sites had siderite, an iron carbonate material, within sulfate-rich layers of Mount Sharp in Gale Crater.

"The discovery of large carbon deposits in Gale Crater represents both a surprising and important breakthrough in our understanding of the geologic and atmospheric evolution of Mars," says Tutolo.

Reaching the strata, he says, was a long-term goal of the Mars Science Laboratory mission.