(ORDO NEWS) — According to an international research team led by a Cornell astrobiologist, modern instruments sent to Mars to collect and analyze evidence of ancient life on the Red Planet may not be sensitive enough to make accurate estimates.
Scientist Alberto G. Feyren and colleagues argue that any organic material in Martian rocks is difficult to detect with current instruments and methods.
Feiren and team tested sediments found in the Atacama Desert in northwestern Chile. The Atacama is a very old and extremely dry desert, which is sometimes used in research as a geological analogue of Mars.
For this work, the researchers conducted geological tests using four instruments that are currently or will soon be on Mars.
Scientists have found that the samples contain numerous microorganisms of uncertain classification and a mixture of biosignals of modern and ancient microorganisms. They were difficult to detect with modern laboratory equipment.
This showed the researchers that instruments sent to Mars might not be sensitive enough, depending on the instrument used and the organic compound being sought.
“The potential for false negatives in the search for life on Mars highlights the need for more powerful tools,” said lead author of the paper Armando Azua-Bustos, a research scientist with Feiren’s team.
Definitively deciding whether life ever existed on Mars requires either installing sophisticated instruments on Mars or bringing Martian samples back to Earth, the researchers say.
“You need to decide what is more profitable: having limited capabilities to analyze samples on the surface of Mars, or having limited samples to analyze with a wide range of the most advanced instruments on Earth,” said Feyren.
NASA is currently working with ESA and others in an attempt to safely return to Earth the Martian geological samples collected by the Perseverance rover.
Also, the European rover Rosalind Franklin is expected to be launched as early as 2028.
It will be equipped with a drilling rig capable of diving to depths of 2 meters to analyze sediments better protected from the harsh conditions on the Martian surface.
“If biosignals are better preserved at depth, which we expect, there will be more abundance and diversity in these deep samples, as well as better biosignal preservation.
This way, our instruments in the rover will have a better chance of detecting them,” Feiren said.
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