An international team of researchers has found evidence that shows that despite the hostile environmental conditions on Mars, the equipment used by rovers on its surface should be able to detect evidence of life if it ever existed there. In their paper published in the journal Advances in Sciencethe team describes how they subjected material samples to Mars-like conditions and then tested them to see how well they held up to abuse. Despite many tests by rovers sent to Mars both to study the planet and to find signs of past or present life, no evidence has yet been found that life ever existed there. This led the researchers to consider two possibilities. One, that life has never existed on the Red Planet and two, that the technology used by the rovers is not up to the task. In this new effort, the researchers conducted an experiment to test the latter possibility. EXPOSE-R2 platform outside the ISS with BIOMEX experiment. Credit: Roscomos/ESA The team’s work involved collecting samples from various natural sites that contained the molecules most in the scientific community agree would need to be present for life to exist. Examples included chlorophyllin, melanin and chitin. The researchers placed the samples in a suitable container and then placed the container on an outer wall of the International Space Station – an environment similar to that found on Mars where extreme temperature changes occur regularly and radiation exposure is constant. In packing the samples, the researchers tried to simulate the soil type and layers on Mars as well, using regolith. The samples were left outside the space station for 469 days and then retrieved in a way that ensured they would not be contaminated before testing. Sample collection and transfer to sample holders for Raman analysis under anaerobic conditions at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) of BIOMEX samples after space exposure. Credit: Jean-Pierre de Vera When they tested the samples using Raman spectroscopy – the technology used by the Mars rovers – they found no evidence of life in the top layers of the soil or in those just below. They did, however, find the signs they were looking for as they dug a little deeper. The researchers suggest that this shows that if there are signs of life beneath the surface of Mars, the rovers should be able to detect them.
Sample collection and transfer to sample holders for Raman analysis under anaerobic conditions at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) of BIOMEX samples after space exposure. Credit: Jean-Pierre de Vera Decay sample at DLR Cologne after space exposure. Credit: DLR
Organic molecules revealed on Mars by Curiosity’s new kind of experiment More information: Mickael Baqué et al, Biosignature’s stability in space allows their use to detect life on Mars, Advances in Science (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abn7412
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Reference: Spectroscopy used to search for life on Mars by rovers capable of probing deeper sediments (2022 September 9) Retrieved September 9, 2022 by
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