Curiosity’s Search for Organics

The last time an astrobiology mission landed on Mars, the nation was celebrating the Bicentennial and Gerald Ford was president. The two Viking landers went with the specific mission to search for signs or examples of Martian life – a task that produced generally negative results, but also decades of controversy and public confusion about the possibilities for life on the planet in our solar system most like ours.

Soon the rover Curiosity will land on Mars to begin what is once again an American astrobiology mission. By design it won’t involve life-detection – it has neither the tools nor the level of sterilization needed for that – but it was assembled to look for the carbon-based building blocks of Martian life and to explore the possible habitats where life might once have existed.