Looking for life on Mars with the Rosalind Franklin rover, Sky In November

Talk by Professor Andrew Coates, University College London Mullard space science laboratory. Principal Investigator (PI) Rosalind Franklin (ExoMars 2022) rover PanCam.

Alan Pickup will also tell us what’s in the Sky in November.

Mars is our closest target in the search for life beyond Earth. 3.8 billion years ago, Mars had significant volcanism, a magnetic field, water on the surface and a thick atmosphere – at a time when life was starting on Earth. Mars now is cold and dry, and has a thin carbon dioxide-atmosphere, with a harsh surface. We discuss current and future missions, especially the ESA-Russia Rosalind Franklin (ExoMars 2022) rover. We will discuss the UK’s roles in the mission, including PanCam. We will drill up to 2m under the harsh Martian surface for the first time, to search for signs of past or even present life.