Mars mission to search for life signs

A US mission to Mars will focus on three key areas where alien life may once have thrived and gather samples to be returned to Earth, scientists have been told.

The Mars 2020 mission will launch a rover to the Red Plan- et in three years time to look for chemical relics of Martian bugs. Exomars Rover, a European mission also launching in 2020, will use similar techniques to search for signs of life. However the Nasa craft will also collect 30 to 40 rock samples and seal them in tubes on the Martian surface for future retrieval. Deputy project scientist Dr Ken Williford was speaking at the Goldschmidt Conference geochemistry meeting in Paris.