Current state-of-the-art instrumentation sent to Mars to collect and analyze evidence of life may not be sensitive enough to make accurate assessments, according to a research team co-led by a Cornell University astronomer.
In a paper published in Nature Communications, visiting planetary scientist Alberto Fairen and an international team of researchers argue that ancient organic material in Martian rocks may be difficult, if not impossible, to detect with current instruments and techniques.
Fairen – also a research professor at the Center for Astrobiology (CAB) in Madrid – and his colleagues conducted tests on sedimentary rocks found in the Red Stone Jurassic Fossil Delta in northwestern Chile’s Atacama Desert, the oldest and driest desert on Earth and a favorite. geological analogue of Mars.
Scientists conducted geological tests at Red Stone using four instruments that are currently or will soon be on Mars. They found that the samples showed numerous microorganisms of undetermined classification – what the scientists call the “dark microbiome” – and a mixture of biological signatures of modern and ancient microorganisms that are barely detectable with the most modern laboratory equipment.
This revealed to the researchers that instrumentation sent to Mars may not be sensitive enough depending on the instrument used and the organic compound being sought. “In particular, the chance of getting false negatives in the search for life on Mars highlights the need for more powerful tools,” said lead study author Armando Azua-Bustos, a scientist on Fairen’s team at the CAB.
In order to “conclusively resolve whether life ever existed on Mars,” the researchers wrote, either placing complex instrumentation on Mars, approximately 53 million miles away, or bringing samples from Mars to Earth. In this case, both options are extremely difficult, Fairen said.
“You have to decide whether it’s more advantageous to have limited analysis capability on the surface of Mars to interrogate a wide range of samples,” he said, “or to have limited samples to analyze with a wide range of state-of-the-art equipment on Earth.”
NASA is currently working with the European Space Agency and others to safely transport Martian geological samples collected by the Perseverance rover to Earth. And Fairen said Europe’s first Mars rover, named Rosalind Franklin, should also be launched as early as 2028.
“This European rover will carry a drill with an unprecedented ability to reach as deep as 2 meters (6 1/2 feet) to analyze sediments better protected against the harsh conditions of the Martian surface,” he said. “If the biological signatures are better preserved at depth, which we expect, there will be greater abundance and diversity in these deep samples and better preservation of the biological signatures. Our instruments in the rover will thus have a better chance of detecting them.”
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