Researchers Develop New Machine for Detecting Signs of Life on Mars

Join Our Community of Science Lovers!

On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

Scientists continue to explore Mars for elusive signs of life. A new tool should help in the hunt. The Mars Organic Analyzer (MOA) can detect and identify amino acids with 1,000 times greater sensitivity than the Viking probes that landed on the Red Planet in 1976.

Alison M. Skelley of the University of California at Berkeley and her colleagues designed the briefcase-size MOA, which includes laser spectroscopy, tiny pumps, valves and fluid channels. In laboratory samples, the new system detected amino acids present in parts per trillion. Analysis of soil samples from the Atacama Desert in Chile, the driest place on Earth, identified acids such as valine and glycine, along with glutamic and aspartic acid in concentrations ranging from 10 to 600 parts per billion. The researchers then took the MOA to Panoche Valley, Calif., to test samples of the mineral jarosite, patches of which were discovered on Mars last year by the rover Opportunity. The device passed its field test, detecting amino acids at 70 parts per trillion.

The MOA is being developed for the European Space Agency's (ESA) ExoMars mission, scheduled to launch in 2009. "ExoMars will be ESA's first mission to carry an exobiology payload, a set of instruments specifically designed to search for life," says Jorge Vago, ExoMars study scientist. "Our intention is to define a multi-instrument package that will be able to fulfill a number of key tasks."

It’s Time to Stand Up for Science

If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.

I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.

If you subscribe to Scientific American, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.

In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can't-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world's best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.

There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you’ll support us in that mission.

Thank you,

David M. Ewalt, Editor in Chief, Scientific American