Looking for life on Mars August 19, 2010
Posted by barrett hooper in Student Life.Tags: aliens, Mars
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A few intrepid U of T researchers are taking the name of this blog a lot more literally than I ever imagined. Jonathan Abbatt of the Department of Chemistry and Kimberly Strong and Kaley Walker of the Department of Physics are part of the international team of scientists developing an instrument to search for signs of life on Mars during the 2016 ExoMars Trace gas Orbiter NASA-European Space Agency mission (what a mouthful!).
To continue with the gobbledygook, the instrument is called the Mars Atmospheric Trace Molecule Occultation Spectrometer, or MATMOS for short. It will probe the atmosphere of Mars in search of biological sources of methane, and consequently, signs of life.
Looking for alien life. That’s a pretty cool way to spend your time at U of T. Even if it’s not as cool as finding alien skulls or an intergalactic Bigfoot.