This has got to be one of the top ten “oops” moments in the history of space exploration. Turns out that the robots NASA has been sending to Mars with Phoenix and Viking to sift through the martian tundra to discover evidence of organic life, has actually been toasting any microbes by mistake. This could be worse than Hubble’s fuzzy mirror.
According to New Scientist (a comic book for grownups), the probes would heat the material so it could test the gases given off, but the resulting combustion left no trace of any organics. Oops.
Just in time for the planned 2013 ExoMars expedition, scientists have found a way to heat Martian dirt just enough in a liquid flourogenic dye (sublimate). The UREY lab on a chip will then be able to test flourescent qualities to indicate life, amino acids, etc. Wow. Good luck with that. Here’s the abstract.
