Scientists have been trying to find signs of life on the planet for decades and while some signs have been quite encouraging, they have not been able to find a definitive answer to the question.
This time, yet again, NASA has opened up the chapter in search for extraterrestrial life on Mars. "I'd be surprised if we landed on the surface (of Mars) and didn't find something that looked like it could have been a formerly habitable environment," said California Institute of Technology planetary scientist John Grotzinger, lead researcher for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory.
In the past, several missions have been launched to find life on Mars. A successful mission called the Viking program touched down on Mars in 1976 and found evidence of biological activity. However, those results couldn't be relied upon due to their contested results.
This new mission by NASA is termed Curiosity. It is not going to be a life-detection mission like its predecessors, rather, it is intended to chemically analyze the landing site known as Gale Crater for habitats that could have supported life.
Curiosity is going to be the fourth rover, the previous ones being Pathfinder, Spirit and Opportunity - which all probed for life and even signs of water on Mars. The findings from these previous missions provided overwhelming evidence that Mars was once a warmer and wetter place. These signs show that Mars once sported an ocean, rivers and other water bodies on its surface. The sign of water in turn points towards the sign of life on the planet.
"One of the ingredients of life is water. We're now looking to see if we can find other conditions that are necessary for life by defining habitability or what does it take in the environment to support life," said Mary Voytek, director of NASA's astrobiology program.
Curiosity will reach its destination in August, 2012.
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