Bringing Mars Back to Earth

The search for life should be an essential component of a sample return mission from Mars, according to a recent report examining the science behind such a venture.

A team of scientists, including technical advisors from NASA and the European Space Agency, and scientists from the United States, Canada, and Europe, identified and prioritized four scientific objectives involved with bringing material from the red planet back to Earth. The search for life, past and present, topped the list, while the preparation for human exploration came near the bottom of the list.

"The decadal survey and others have pretty much concluded that the next logical step is sample return," said Scott McLennan, of Stony Brook University in New York.