GREENBELT, Md. (WJZ) — An amazing discovery on Mars by the rover Curiosity. NASA scientists in Maryland say soil samples have uncovered traces of an essential building block for life! So does it mean we could someday live on Mars?

Kai Jackson has more on what this new discovery means.

The rover has uncovered data that’s encouraging but it fell short of what scientists had hoped.

The world of science is buzzing following a discovery by the Mars rover. Curiosity found something in the Martian soil but scientists say the mobile lab hasn’t found the ingredients needed to support life.

“To date, we have not identified any organic compounds in the Martian soil,” said Dr. Pam Conrad, Mars Science Laboratory.

Conrad is among the scientists at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt who are monitoring the Mars rover from Earth.

The onboard laboratory is analyzing soil and looking for carbon, an essential building block of life. Reality tempered the optimism.

“In the end, we don’t have something that we believe is organic material that comes from Mars,” said John Grotzinger, Curiosity Project scientist.

Scientists at Goddard say Marylanders should be proud that a portion of this major space exploration is centered in this state.

“We have this amazing group of scientists coming not only from Goddard but also from around the world through our investigation here. It’s a tremendous capability. We’ve never done anything like this,” Conrad said.

Scientists say through the rover’s technology, they’ll have an opportunity to observe the red planet at all hours.