Rethinking Mars Life Detection: Targeting Extant Biology with Functional Signals and Context-Aware Instrumentation

To the point

To detect life on Mars, we must seek real biological activity—growth, metabolism, and reproduction—using instruments capable of measuring functional signals rather than just chemical traces or signs of extinct life.

Frontiers | Discriminating between extinct and extant life detection: implications for future Mars missions
frontiersin.org

Frontiers | Discriminating between extinct and extant life detection: implications for future Mars missions

The search for biosignatures on Mars has been a high priority for astrobiology. The approach to detecting putative biosignatures has largely been focused on ...