Next NASA Mars Rover to Hunt for Ancient Alien Life in 2020

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity may be still conducting experiments on the Red Planet, but the space agency is already looking forward to the future. NASA has announced that a new rover will be sent to Mars in 2020 and that it will hunt for signs of past alien life.

The objective to hunt for alien life isn't all that surprising. Curiosity keeps unearthing evidence that microbial life may have been present on Mars in the distant past. Already, the rover has discovered the remains of flowing rivers that were present on the surface of the planet. While the new rover will be hunting for past alien life, though, it won't be hunting for present-day life.

This, also, isn't surprising. The harsh conditions that currently characterize the surface of Mars make the presence of current life unlikely. In addition, the search itself would be extremely difficult and probably not worth the effort.

"That's a darn hard measurement to make and a darn hard measurement to convince the skeptical science community, because scientists are naturally skeptical," said Jack Mustard, team chair and professor of geological sciences at Brown University, in an interview with BBC News. "The science definition team wrestled with this question, but the feeling was, on the basis of the evidence we have today, the most logical steps forward were to look for the ancient forms of life that would be preserved within the rock record."

The rover itself will be similar in design to Curiosity, which has experienced quite a bit of success since it landed on Mars over a year ago. Using the design will also help minimize costs and risks for the 2020 mission. The new rover will possess a host of scientific instruments that will be used for visual, mineralogical and chemical analysis down to the microscopic scale in order to understand the environment around its landing site and identify biosignatures.

"The Mars 2020 mission will provide a unique capability to address the major questions of habitability and life in the solar system," said Jim Green, directory of NASA's Planetary Science Division in Washington, in a news release. "This mission represents a major step towards creating high-value sampling and interrogation methods as part of a broader strategy for sample returns by planetary missions."

Scientists hope that in addition for searching for life on Mars, the new rover will be able to pave the way for human exploration on Mars. More specifically, it could look at any hazards posed by Martian dust and demonstrate how to collect carbon dioxide, which could be a resource for making oxygen.

For more information about NASA's Mars programs, check out their website here.