I am aware of the atmospheric composition and pressure. I am looking for research papers which state the mineral content of Martian soil.
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1Related possible duplicate Would a settlement on Mars need to import Nitrogen? – James Jenkins Mar 27 '19 at 16:41
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2Possible duplicate of Would a settlement on Mars need to import Nitrogen? – peterh Mar 27 '19 at 18:28
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This is a good question. Right now it's on hold for being off-topic but if you look at the possible duplicates I think it's possible you were asking about nitrogen for a specific reason that really was related to space exploration. The problem is that you didn't say that explicitly. The more you can explain about what it is you are looking for and in this case, especially why, the better a question can be answered. You are welcome to modify the question and explain further, maybe you are interested in something else instead? – uhoh Mar 27 '19 at 23:46
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1One could argue that there is a space exploration component to this question, since the given answer involves experimentation on soil proved to be Martian. Which did require standardizing it against Mars itself. – Oscar Lanzi Apr 14 '19 at 18:58
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According to NASA the answer is "Yes". Nitric oxide, which can be formed from pyrolysis of nitrates, evolved from heated samples of Martian soil.
Nitrates on Earth may be made by biological processes, but also by nonbioligical processes such as lightning. The NASA report gives no indication that the Martian nitrates are of biological origin.
Uwe
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