NASA’s keenly awaited ‘Mars Exploration Program’ which is scheduled to launch in 2020, will employ a smart and high-tech ‘X-Ray’ technique for searching the presence of bio-signature on the Martian surface; confirmed the US-based space agency. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), while shedding light on how the historic Mars 2020 Rover will search for the presence of alien life on the Red Planet, has confirmed that the rover will use smart X-ray techniques, which was initially programmed to detect the oldest form of life on Earth.
According to Ken Williford, the mission scientist from NASA’s California-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Previous expeditions and exploration missions to the Red Planet employed a comparatively broad brush for analyzing the natural chemistry over approximately the mass of a postage stamp to chase the presence of water as well as the ancient habitable environments of Mars. Mars 2020 Mission will take this hunt to the next level and will employ smart X-rays for directly searching the evidence of primordial microbial life on the Red Planet.
As confirmed by the mission scientist of NASA, the new smart scientific methods for detecting the most ancient evidence of life on Earth will lead to taking a step forward in the abilities for the detection of the bio-signature on Martian surface and atmosphere. Instead of employing “bulk” geochemistry methods, Mars 2020 will be integrated with new and more advanced capabilities including Raman spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence for mapping the mineral, elemental, and organic Symphony of rocks at high-spatial resolution.
Ahead of astrobiology, the new smart x-ray allows the exploration of Mars at telescopic to the minuscule ranges, right from a mountain to a small piece of sand and this microscopic approach will help scientists quickly exploring the existence of life on Mars.
Taking to the statement forward, Williford said,
The mission will completely focus on getting the precise measurements of the Martian microbial scale and delivering high- resolution maps over the similar postage stamp-sized investigative regions on Mars.
To those unknown, Mars 2020 is a Mars exploration mission, led by NASA’s Mars Exploration Program. The launch is planned for 2020 and is ultimately intended to examine the astrobiological-applicable primordial ecology of the Red Planet.
