Other Life Sciences Commons^™

Report On The Workshop For Life Detection In Samples From Mars, Gerhard Kminek, Catherine Conley, Carlton C. Allen, Douglas H. Bartlett, David W. Beaty, Liane G. Benning, Rohit Bhatia, Penelope J. Boston, Caroline Duchaine, Jack D. Farmer, George J. Flynn, Daniel P. Glavin, Yuri Gorby, John E. Hallsworth, Rakesh Mogul, Duane Moser, P. Buford Price, Ruediger Pukall, David Fernandez-Remolar, Caroline L. Smith, Kenneth M. Stedman, Andrew Steele, Ramunas Stepanauskas, Henry Sun, Jorge L. Vago, Mary A. Voytek, Paul S. Weiss, Frances Westfall

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The question of whether there is or was life on Mars has been one of the most pivotal since Schiaparellis’ telescopic observations of the red planet. With the advent of the space age, this question can be addressed directly by exploring the surface of Mars and by bringing samples to Earth for analysis. The latter, however, is not free of problems. Life can be found virtually everywhere on Earth. Hence the potential for contaminating the Mars samples and compromising their scientific integrity is not negligible. Conversely, if life is present in samples from Mars, this may represent a potential source …