Can Mars Rovers Detect Life on the Red Planet?

Many rovers are looking for life on Mars – but no clear evidence has yet been found. A new study shows why that might be.

Madrid – Is there life on Mars? Researchers have been asking this question for decades. The US space agency, in particular, is trying to find an answer with the help of several space probes and the Mars rover – to no avail so far. It has long been proven that Mars was once a wet planet on which life could have been possible.

But definitive proof that life once existed – or even exists today – no one has been able to provide. Only organic material has been discovered on Mars so far, but that alone is not evidence of life on the Red Planet. A new study now shows that the missing discovery may not be due to the fact that there is no life on Mars. A research group theory from the Centro de Astrobiología in Madrid: Instruments sent to Mars so far may not be able to detect life there.

Is there any life on Mars? Rover tools restricted

The research group led by Armando Azua-Bustos began the study with this finding in Commercial newspaper Nature Communications published. The team conducted research in the world’s oldest desert, the Atacama Desert in Chile. There is the redstone formation, which is similar to Mars geologically: there are sands and rocks rich in hematite and mudstone, and the area is often used by astrobiologists as a model for Mars.

The researchers examined samples of the redstone formation using instruments that are currently being used aboard the Perseverance and Curiosity rovers on Mars or that will be used on the Red Planet in the future. The result was sobering: at best, finding the microorganisms was extremely difficult—in most cases they weren’t detected at all. However, researchers have only been able to detect small amounts of the material using ground-based instruments that clearly indicate life.

Mars exploration devices fail to detect life on Earth

“Our analyzes using test instruments that are or are being sent to Mars show that while the mineralogy of the redstone formation is consistent with that detected by ground-based instruments on the Red Planet, similar small amounts of organic matter are present.” Materials in Martian rocks are difficult or impossible to detect, depending on the instrument and technology,” the study’s research team wrote.