Top of page

Film, Video Martian Mud: Recent Discovery of Organic Matter on Mars

Transcript: TEXT

About this Item

Title

  • Martian Mud: Recent Discovery of Organic Matter on Mars

Summary

  • Jennifer Eigenbrode discussed NASA's Curiosity rover's recent discovery of organic carbon molecules, some of the building blocks of life, in mudstones from a 3-billion-year-old Martian lakebed. She discussed how it might have been preserved and what the source might be.

Event Date

  • September 12, 2019

Notes

  • -  Jennifer Eigenbrode is an interdisciplinary astrobiologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. She specializes in organic biogeochemistry of Martian and ocean world environments. Eigenbrode received her undergraduate degree in geology at James Madison University, her master's in geological sciences at Indiana University in Bloomington, and her doctorate in geosciences from Penn State. As a sample analysis at Mars Collaborator and participating scientist for the Mars science laboratory mission, she has focused on the in situ detection and preservation of organic molecules in the radiated sediments at the Martian surface. Her work aims to improve planetary mission design, contamination control and instrument measurements that will enable the search for life beyond Earth.

Running Time

  • 55 minutes 41 seconds

Online Format

  • video
  • image
  • online text

Rights & Access

While the Library of Congress created most of the videos in this collection, they include copyrighted materials that the Library has permission from rightsholders to present.  Rights assessment is your responsibility.  The written permission of the copyright owners in materials not in the public domain is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemptions. There may also be content that is protected under the copyright or neighboring-rights laws of other nations.  Permissions may additionally be required from holders of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights). Whenever possible, we provide information that we have about copyright owners and related matters in the catalog records, finding aids and other texts that accompany collections. However, the information we have may not be accurate or complete.

More about Copyright and other Restrictions

For guidance about compiling full citations consult Citing Primary Sources.

Credit Line: Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Martian Mud: Recent Discovery of Organic Matter on Mars. Video. https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-9013/.

APA citation style:

Martian Mud: Recent Discovery of Organic Matter on Mars. [Video] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-9013/.

MLA citation style:

Martian Mud: Recent Discovery of Organic Matter on Mars. Video. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/webcast-9013/>.