Searching for Signs of Life on Mars with Rosalind Franklin

DIPC Seminars

Speaker

Jorge Vago
European Space Agency

When

2025/03/12
12:00

Place

DIPC Josebe Olarra Seminar Room

Host

Juan Manuel García-Ruiz

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Finding signs of life elsewhere is one of the most important scientific objectives of our time. From the very beginning in 2002, ExoMars was conceived to answer one question: Was there ever life on the red planet? All design decisions have focused, and continue to centre, on the achievement of this one scientific goal. It is particularly the case for the Rosalind Franklin rover. Putting the science team in the best condition to search for physical and chemical biosignatures has led to:
1. The need for a 2-m depth drill.
2. The choice of payload (including the trade-offs we had to make).
3. The requirements for the science potential and age of the landing site.
4. The surface exploration strategy: which targets, how much travelling, and the way that the instruments will be used together.

This presentation will briefly discuss the first billion years of the terrestrial planets: how they formed, whether they are typical or rare, the origin of their water, which cosmic processes primed their evolution, when and under what conditions life may have appeared, and what specific challenges exist for the Mars case. Next, we will address how the Rosalind Franklin mission can obtain, process and study samples; the metric we use to evaluate evidence for or against a possible biological presence; and the available targets of interest that the landing site, Oxia Planum, can offer. Finally, we will discuss how the mission is being prepared for a launch in 2028.