Robotic rovers are currently exploring the surface of Mars. Part of a rover’s mission is to survey the planet for signs of life. There might be nothing to find – but what if there is, and the rovers just can’t “see” it?
New research published today in Nature Communications suggests the rovers’ current equipment might not actually be up to the task of finding evidence of life.
As an extreme environment microbiologist, the challenges of searching for life where it seems near-impossible are familiar to me.
In astrobiology, we study the diversity of life in sites on Earth with environmental or physical features that resemble regions already described on Mars. We call these terrestrial environments “Mars analogue” sites.
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