The Science Behind The Rocket Scientist

What’s real and what is fictional?

Several of my readers have asked me how I came up the idea that microbial life exists on Mars and that it could absorb vast quantities of CO2 to reverse climate change on Earth. I mean, it’s the central theme of my two novels, The Rocket Scientist and The Martian Solution. So let’s break down some of the key factors.

1. Is there any scientific evidence?

Data from NASA missions show that billions of years ago Mars had rivers, lakes, and environments containing liquid water. The Gale Crater, where NASA’s Curiosity rover operates, was once home to an ancient lake and had conditions that could have supported microbial life. (NASA Science)

The Curiosity rover has found organic carbon in Martian rocks. Organic molecules form the foundation of life on Earth. In 2026, NASA reported that Curiosity had identified the most diverse collection of organic molecules yet found on Mars—21 carbon-containing molecules, including seven never previously detected there.

But NASA has been careful to emphasize that finding organics is not the same as finding life because organic compounds can also be created by non-biological processes. (NASA)

Today, scientists still cannot prove whether those compounds were produced by biology or geology, but the discovery strengthens the evidence that ancient Mars possessed chemistry capable of supporting life. (NASA)

2. What about microbes?

On Earth, microbes have been discovered in places that once would have seemed completely inhospitable: deserts, highly acidic environments, deep underground, within rocks, and in places with very little available energy.

If life began on Mars during its warmer and wetter period, it’s possible that microorganisms could have adapted as the planet gradually became colder and drier. Rather than surviving openly on the surface, where radiation and extreme conditions are severe, they might have retreated into protected environments underground.

Scientists think Curiosityʼs landing site, the Gale Crater with its large deposits of sedimentary rock, could preserve organic compounds for billions of years. (NASA Science)

3. What about methane?

Curiosity has detected methane in the atmosphere of Gale Crater, including variations in its concentration. On Earth, much methane is produced biologically, but methane can also be generated through non-biological geological reactions too.

NASA therefore does not regard Martian methane as evidence of life. But scientists continue to investigate where it comes from and why its concentration changes. (NASA Science)

4. And now the fiction part

This is where my novels move from established science into logical speculation.

Mars has an atmosphere composed overwhelmingly of carbon dioxide. So the idea of a fictional microorganism absorbing large quantities of carbon dioxide is not inherently implausible even though there is no science proving that it ever did or could.

What is also fictional in The Rocket Scientist is the extraordinary efficiency of the organism Julie McCray discovers to enable effective direct air capture on a global scale.

And the gap between what science has discovered and what my imagination assembled is where The Rocket Scientistbegins.

I hope you've enjoyed exploring some of the fascinating science behind Mars exploration and NASA's remarkable missions. In The Rocket Scientist, those scientific possibilities become the foundation for a high-stakes thriller involving discovery, espionage, and an international struggle for control.

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