Search for life is number one priority for crewed Mars missions, major new report reveals

Searching for evidence of life on Mars should be the main scientific objective for the first human missions to the Red Planet, according to a major new report.

The report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) provides the strongest case yet for sending people to the surface of Mars, rather than just rovers and robots.

Crewed missions could engage in activities and make scientific discoveries that would be otherwise impossible with robotic exploration tools alone, the report’s authors noted.

“The first human landing on Mars will be the most significant moment for human space exploration since we first set foot on the Moon over 50 years ago,” said Linda T. Elkins-Tanton, a principal investigator on Nasa’s Psyche mission, who co-chaired the committee that wrote the report.

“Our report puts science at the centre of what will be a remarkable achievement, and outlines the incredible knowledge we’ll have the opportunity to glean about our place in the universe, the potential habitability of Mars, and so much more.”

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The 240-page report, titled ‘A science strategy for the human exploration of Mars’, offers recommendations to Nasa as the US space agency prepares its roadmap for sending astronauts to the Martian surface in the 2030s.

The report’s authors outline 11 science priorities for future crewed missions to Mars, ranging from searching for resources like water, to radiation sampling and assessing habitability.

These objectives could be achieved across four possible three-mission campaigns, made up of both crewed surface missions and uncrewed cargo delivery flights to different sites on Mars.

All mission proposals include the setting up of a science lab on the surface of the Red Planet, as well as returning samples back to Earth for further analysis.

“By imagining different ways that priority science could be pursued during actual human missions, our report shows there are many different options for humans to explore Mars and achieve great scientific breakthroughs,” said committee co-chair Dava Newman, a professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

“Importantly, it also offers a synergistic review of science priorities enhanced by human exploration.”