Search for Life on Mars

In this 6th session of the internet-based live lectures between Universities and Institutes, Dr Jorge Vago discusses missions to Mars and in particular the European mission ExoMars. ExoMars's scientific objectives are: 1) To search for signs of past and present life; 2) To identify surface hazards to future human missions; and 3) To characterise, in the shallow subsurface, the vertical distribution profile for water and geochemical composition. ExoMars will deploy a high-mobility rover on the Martian surface, carrying a comprehensive suite of analytical instruments dedicated to exobiology, geochemistry, and environmental research. Over its planned 6-month lifetime, the rover will travel a few tens of kilometres searching for traces of past and present signs of life.