Stealth life detection instruments aboard Curiosity

摘要

NASA has often stated (e.g. MSL Science Corner1) that it’s Mars ScienceLaboratory (MSL), “Curiosity,” Mission to Mars carries no life detectionexperiments. This is in keeping with NASA’s 36-year explicit ban on such, imposedimmediately after the 1976 Viking Mission to Mars. The space agency attributes theban to the “ambiguity” of that Mission’s Labeled Release (LR) life detectionexperiment, fearing an adverse effect on the space program should a similar“inconclusive” result come from a new robotic quest. Yet, despite the NASA ban,this author, the Viking LR Experimenter, contends there are “stealth life detectioninstruments” aboard Curiosity. These are life detection instruments in the sensethat they can free the Viking LR from the pall of ambiguity that has held it prisonerso long. Curiosity’s stealth instruments are those seeking organic compounds, andthe mission’s high-resolution camera system. Results from any or all of thesedevices, coupled with the Viking LR data, can confirm the LR’s life detection claim.In one possible scenario, Curiosity can, of itself, completely corroborate the findingof life on Mars. MSL has just successfully landed on Mars. Hopefully, its stealthconfirmations of life will be reported shortly.© (2012) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.