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The Search for Extant Life on Mars as a Focusing Scientific Goal for Future Human Exploration MissionsA search for evidence of extant life on Mars provides a focusing goal for human exploration missions that are planned for the 2030s. Finding an example of extant life beyond Earth would be one of the greatest scientific discoveries of all time. Human exploration brings extraordinary improvements over robotic missions in both payload and analytical capability. Environments that may be habitable for modern life on Mars include salts and brines, ground ice, caves, and deep subsurface aquifers [Carrier et al. 2020]. The habitability case for each environment is reviewed as well as how human missions may enable the search. It is important to determine if life exists on Mars prior to human exploration activities to prevent both the risk to Earth of inadvertently bringing potentially harmful organisms from Mars, risks to astronaut health, and the complication of recognizing Mars life once terrestrial contamination has occurred.
Document ID
20220011200
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
C.R. Stoker
(Ames Research Center Mountain View, California, United States)
Date Acquired
July 26, 2022
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration
Meeting Information
Meeting: Europlanet Science Congress 2022
Location: Granada
Country: ES
Start Date: September 18, 2022
End Date: September 23, 2022
Sponsors: EuroPlanet Society
Funding Number(s)
WBS: 811073.02.52.01.48
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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