Mars Life Detection: Workshop Abstract

With Mars missions beginning in 2009, opportunities will exist for carrying out in situ astrobiological experiments on Mars for the first time since the Viking mission (1976). With many new and relevant technologies emerging from the fields of biotechnology, micro/nanotechnology, information technology and other technology communities, and two funded technology development elements within the astrobiology program (ASTID and ASTEP), there will be many paths for developing new, highly capable astrobiology instrumentation suites for missions in 2009 and beyond.

The Life Detection: Mars and Beyond workshop, planned for March 10-11, 2003 at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ, will update the community on progress in the broad area of life detection, within the context of future Mars mission opportunities. The workshop will present a series of talks that will describe the current state of knowledge regarding approaches to detecting extant or fossil life, and new technological capabilities that could enable the development of a new generation of life detection experiments. The goal is to familiarize attendees with relevant information from disciplines outside of their own fields of expertise. This will be accomplished through breakout sessions to examine potential technological focus areas for Astrobiology payload development and integration. The anticipated outcome of the workshop will be to expand the community of potential proposers for payload development opportunities for Mars missions beginning in 2009, and to produce a summary recommendations concerning how best to integrate emerging concepts and technologies for life detection into the design of a new generation of flight experiments for detecting life in other planetary environments.