Organisms on Earth produce a wide array of durable “biofluorescent” materials. If those on other planets do, too, the Compact Color Biofinder should be able to detect them
Was Mars ever a living world? Billions of years ago, before it became a freeze-dried desert, the Red Planet was much more Earth-like, with liquid water and clement temperatures at its surface. Perhaps it harbored life, too. But most signs of any ancient Martians would by now be little more than traces of organic compounds and faint fossil forms hidden in the planet’s rusted rocks.
That unique daytime sensitivity, team members say, makes the decade-in-development Biofinder an especially attractive option for seeking out remnants of ancient life. The capability comes from the instrument’s camera, which captures brief exposures of targets. “When you have a camera that opens for a short time, then you actually don’t detect the daylight,” explains Anupam Misra, a researcher at the University of Hawaii and lead author on the paper.
Although McKay suggests the Biofinder could be the best bet for discovering ancient remnants of unknown life-forms on Mars, that’s not to say the instrument would provide the final word in understanding what exactly it had caught on camera. “You can look at a pie, but tasting it gives you a lot more information about it,” he says.
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