Robot to search for life on Mars

A robot that can move around and search for signs of extraterrestrial life could be sent to Mars within six years, scientists announced at the weekend.

Although the launch is scheduled to take place in 2011, the robot will not arrive at the Red Planet until the middle of 2013, when it could in theory become the first scientific instrument to show that we are not alone in the Universe.

The scientists announced a plan to send the robot to Mars as part of the ambitious programme of European space exploration that could eventually see samples of Martian rock being returned to Earth in 2016. But, if the missions are to happen, the space scientists must convince their political masters the project is worthwhile.
Success in the second part of the programme could lead to an even more extraordinary manned mission to our neighbouring planet some time in the 2030s, according to the European Space Agency (ESA).

"The long-term goal of the programme was and still is to put humans on Mars in the 2030s," said Jean Pierre Swings, chairman of ESA's advisory committee on exploration.

In the meantime, scientists at ESA announced at the weekend that they have formulated three options for the Aurora mission to land a robotic roving laboratory on the surface of the Red Planet in June 2011, following a two-year circuitous journey through the Solar System. The cost is estimated to be 350 million ($920m), depending on which option is chosen, but before any money is spent it will need the approval of ESA's council of ministers, who are due to meet to discuss the proposal at the end of the year.

Although the fine details of the project have yet to be finalised, the scientists are insisting that it will need a robotic laboratory on wheels that can search for the direct signs of past or present life in the rocks and atmosphere of Mars.

Since the ill-fated attempt to search for life on Mars with the Beagle-2 probe - which was lost on Christmas Day 2003 - scientists in Europe have worked together to devise a successor that can rival the big-budget Mars missions of the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa).

More than 100 scientists from across Europe and Canada - which is a member of ESA - met this week at a scientific workshop at Aston University in Birmingham to hammer out what was needed for a return to Mars.

Over the past five years scientists at both Nasa and ESA have confirmed that there were once huge bodies of liquid water on Mars where life could have evolved - and that some water may still exist underground.

Still more intriguing was the more recent discovery of traces of methane gas in the atmosphere, which could only be produced either by volcanic activity or as a byproduct of living organisms.

Mark Sims of Leicester University, who chairs the Aurora advisory committee, said the presence of methane on Mars was one of the most exciting areas for the rover to investigate.

"It's still too early to say where the landing site will be. It would be nice to go for one of the methane hotspots. It is the exciting hot topic because it's related to life," Dr Sims said.

Nasa is also planning to put twin robotic rovers on Mars during the same period, which will continue the work begun by its highly successful rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which have been exploring the planet for the past year.

Bruno Gardini, the Aurora programme manager at ESA, said that a more ambitious programme, to send spacecraft to Mars that can return samples of rock to Earth, would require close collaboration with Nasa.

- INDEPENDENT