| Autor: |
Joseph D. Miller, Richard E. Hoover, Patricia Ann Straat, Gilbert V. Levin |
| Rok vydání: |
2003 |
| Předmět: |
|
| Zdroj: |
Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology V. |
| ISSN: |
0277-786X |
| DOI: |
10.1117/12.457312 |
| Popis: |
Since the 1976 Viking Mission to Mars, follow-on efforts to resolve its controversial life detection results have been thwarted by two heretofore insurmountable difficulties: the huge expense of sterilizing the entire spacecraft to protect the integrity of life detection experiments; and the lack of a practical robotic life detection package that could produce results acceptable as unambiguous by the scientific community. We here present a method that assures sterility and the complete integrity of robotic life detection experiments, all at a negligible cost. Second, we propose a candidate set of integrated, highly sensitive experiments that we believe could produce results acceptable to the vast majority of scientists. In addition to the biology-chemistry issue, the extensively debated oxidative state of the Martian surface and other chemical and physical characteristics of the Martian soil would be determined. We present our concept for a miniaturized instrument that could carry out a number of candidate experiments to achieve the objective. |
| Databáze: |
OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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