Written by Amira Shehata
Friday, February 24, 2023 05:00 AM
A study finds that the tools scientists use to find signs life on Mars They may not actually be sensitive enough to detect microbes, so no organisms have been detected on the Red Planet yet. Researchers from the Autonomous University of Chile tested the sophisticated instruments used by NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance spacecraft in the Atacama Desert.
And according to the British newspaper “Daily Mail”, while the laboratory’s equipment identified biosignatures, molecules that indicate the presence of life, in the past or present in the samples, it was found that identifying them using the technology of the rovers was hardly possible.
Scientists from around the world have been scouring the surface of Mars for signs of life since the 1970s, and this began with the Viking Lander missions, which involved sampling Martian soil to look for “organic” carbon-containing molecules.
Carbon is an essential component of all known forms of life on Earth, so the molecules it contains act as potential biosignals.
Other missions over the years to Mars include the Pathfinder mission, which carried the first rover to the planet, and Spirit and Opportunity, which searched for water.
Today, the Perseverance rover is wandering around the Martian delta collecting important samples it hopes to send back to Earth. However, none of these missions have yet provided any indisputable evidence of the existence of aliens, and they wrote: “We assume that the limitations of current tools and the nature of organic materials in Mars rocks may also impede our ability to find evidence of life on the Red Planet.”
