How did life on Earth start? The solutions could possibly be caught on Mars

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The thriller of how life on Earth originated , and whether or not it exists elsewhere within the universe, are “the raison d’être of space exploration”, stated Louis Friedman, co-founder of the Planetary Society.

The reply, he wrote in The Washington Post, “might be in one of the test tubes now sitting on Mars”. But the samples, collected by Nasa’s Perseverance rover, “seem doomed to endlessly wait for no answer” – as a result of Donald Trump is cancelling the mission to convey them dwelling.

‘Crowning achievement’ of Mars exploration

Since Perseverance touched down on the Red Planet in February 2021, the “car-sized, nuclear-powered robot” has been gathering samples for supply to Earth, the place “close-up inspection” may present “the first compelling evidence of life beyond Earth”, stated Scientific American.

This programme, a collaboration between Nasa and the European Space Agency often known as Mars Sample Return (MSR), is the “crowning achievement” of half a century of Mars exploration, the product of a long time of planning and “many billions of dollars”.

Unless, that’s, “the Trump administration gets its way”. The US president’s current “budgetary bombshell” proposed to chop Nasa’s funding by 1 / 4 and “entirely eliminate MSR”, which the White House claimed was “grossly over-budget”. The samples, it stated, could be collected by “human missions to Mars”. That is “nonsense on several levels”, stated Scott Hubbard, Stanford University scientist and Nasa’s inaugural Mars program director. “I know of no credible ‘humans to Mars’ scenario that is earlier than 2039 or 2040.”

It’s true that “multiple independent reviews” of MSR have talked about its “swelling price tag and slipping schedule”, stated Scientific American. One 2023 Nasa review estimated that the mission would value as much as $11 billion (£8 billion), comparable with the James Webb Space Telescope – the costliest astronomy mission in historical past. But “any remotely realistic plan for a crewed Mars mission would be far more expensive”.

Whether or not the European Space Agency can retrieve the MSR samples with out Nasa is unclear, however a statement issued in response to Trump’s proposed price range “carefully emphasises the importance of US-European cooperation in space activities”.

‘Strong indications’ of life past Earth

Finding out whether or not the handfuls of samples present proof of life would require subtle gear and “hundreds of chemical experiments”, stated Friedman. But these samples have been “carefully selected in potentially habitable regions”; at the least one has “strong indications of past microbial life”.

The solutions to how life started might additionally “advance” fields like robotics, synthetic intelligence, communications, artificial biology, chemistry, and extra. Which is why China and India are pursuing related missions: China is planning to retrieve samples from Mars in 2028, which might make it “the first country to return potentially biologically active planetary material – including potential life forms – from beyond Earth”, stated Space.com.

“By abandoning return of Mars samples to other nations, the US abandons the preeminent role that JFK ascribed to the scientific exploration of space” in his 1962 Rice University speech, stated the 2023 Nasa impartial evaluate of the mission. In his speech, entitled “We Choose to go to the Moon”, Kennedy stated “We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people.”