Chemistry in Space!

Curiosity, the new Mars rover, has an awesome suite of analytical tools on board to collect data about the red planet's surface. The Mars Science Laboratory is equipped with X-Ray fluorescence and diffraction spectrometers, a gas chromatography system, a mass spectrometer, a laser spectrometer, and other detectors and cameras to give a good look at anything that could be found in or on the rocks that the rover can encounter. (Have a look for yourself! http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/instruments/)

All of these spectrometers and separation systems are great tools to look for either minerals or organic molecules. The mineralogical instrumentation is interesting to those scientists hoping to gain insight into Mars' geological events. The instrumentation that can detect carbon-based molecules, however, could be the first tools to detect traces of life outside of our planet. We don't necessarily know that life in other parts of the universe would use carbon as its molecular building block of choice, but since every life form on Earth does, it's a safe place to start searching.

This awesome instrumentation could lead to more interesting questions than just whether organic compounds are found on Mars. Let's say that the rover does encounter organic molecules. We actually can't actually jump to the conclusion that even complex organic molecules came from living processes on Mars. Really, scientists would have to consider that possibility along with the possibility that the molecules were "built" somewhere else, and then transferred to Mars. I think that might be the most interesting potential outcome of this rover mission. If we could nail down any molecules on the surface of Mars that were created by a living thing, or a living thing itself, we might be able to find direct evidence of panspermia, a phenomenon where life is spread throughout the cosmos by rocks flying through space. Honestly, I think I might be ready for NASA to conduct the experiments a little differently and make an attempt to bring life from Earth and see if it can catch on on another surface (although we'd want to be careful how we do this: see the NASA Planetary Protection program). We tend to look backwards with this sort of science, but causing panspermia ourselves  could also prove a great deal.