Looking for ET

Scientists target tiny fossils in Martian soil in NASA's search for extraterrestrial life

30 April 2010

A proposed robotic lab would carry instruments for identifying and measuring the chemical building blocks for life (as we know it), including thousands of carbon-carrying compounds, elements such as sulfur and nitrogen, and oxidation states of trace metals associated with life.

They still haven't found any Martian microbes, or telltale signs of alien biospheres orbiting distant stars. But scientists looking for signs of life in our solar system and the universe beyond are not discouraged.

Researchers at the biennial Astrobiology Science Conference near Houston, Texas, described a series of ambitious new projects they say will continue the search for extraterrestrial life.

Search for Extraterrestrial Life

Among them was Cornell University researcher Steve Squires, chief scientist on the Mars Rover Mission for the U.S space agency, NASA.

In a news briefing he told reporters that astrobiology will be central to future space exploration. "NASA is currently considering 28 different missions. They are sort of breathtaking in their sweep. They cover everything from Mercury landers to fly-bys of objects in the deep outer solar system."

NASA/JPL-CaltechNASA's Opportunity rover used its front hazard-identification camera to obtain this image at the end of a drive on the rover's 1,271st sol, or Martian day (Aug. 21, 2007).