MASEX — A Dedicated Life Detection Mission on Mars
Whitepaper #333 submitted to the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032. Topics: life and prebiotic organics; Mars; other science themes: Astrobiology
by Ying Lin, Fang Zhong, Bryana L. Henderson, Victor Abrahamsson, Isik Kanik, Johannes Gross, Laura Newlin, Wayne W. Schubert, Larry Matthies, Charles Edwards, Jonathan Bapst, J. (Bob) Balaram, and Theodore Tzanetos
Published onMar 18, 2021
MASEX — A Dedicated Life Detection Mission on Mars
We present an astrobiology-focused mission concept, Mars Astrobiology Science Exploration (MASEX), that targets the Mars North Polar region to look for signs of extant life, biomolecules, and organics. Our unique concept uses only CO2 and water as solvents without potentially degradation-inducing high temperature pyrolysis of the sample.
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0)
