Shooting Life on Mars

October 17, 2008 / Posted by: Shige Abe

Using a highly sensitive laser, scientists have developed a new method to search for evidence for life in martian minerals. The technique reduces the risk of contamination and can detect incredibly low concentrations of biomolecules. With funding from NASA’s Astrobiology program, the researchers have done previous studies showing that minerals like halite and jarosite yield distinct ion patterns when organic molecules are present. This time, they tried thenardite, a compound thought to be part of the martian surface. Because thenardite is left behind when lakes dry up, its presence could signify the past existence of water — and hence life.

Source: [Astrobiology Magazine]

Nov 20, 2008

rkwok said:

You may be interested to know that we’ve recently created a new podcast about this research at Idaho National Laboratory. Here’s the link:

http://www.inl.gov/portal-files/mars_podcast.mp3