We Should Search for Extant Life on Mars in this Decade
Whitepaper #112 submitted to the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032. Topics: habitability and water; life and prebiotic organics; Mars
by Carol Stoker, Jennifer G. Blank, Penelope Boston, Luoth Chou, Shiladitya DasSarma, Jennifer Eigenbrode, Natalie Grefenstette, Diana Northup, Andrew Schuerger, Dirk Schulze-Makuch, Vlada Stamenković, and Jesse Tarnas
Published onMar 18, 2021
We Should Search for Extant Life on Mars in this Decade
We advocate the search for extant Martian life should be accomplished in a focused mission or program in the next decade or be included among New Frontiers candidate missions. Four examples of habitable environments on modern Mars that merit a search for extant life are described along with potential approaches for their exploration.
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0)
