ASU professors are setting the standard for what extraterrestrial life may look like in a $400,000 project funded by NASA.
Peter Buseck, regents professor of geological sciences, and Molly McCartney, a senior research scientist at the ASU Center for Solid State Science, began a two-year project in August by examining a Mars meteorite. They plan to develop reliable criteria for identifying possible former life on Mars, also called "biomarkers."
"We are trying to prove whether or not there was life on Mars," McCartney said.
Buseck and McCartney's paper, "Magnetite Morphology and Life on Mars," is published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In their paper, Buseck and McCartney said that a study done in 1996 by NASA researchers on bacterial magnetite crystals found on the same meteorite was inconclusive.
The NASA researchers did not have the new technology needed to make an accurate analysis, Buseck said.
"We hope to establish precise methods and criteria for recognizing the remains of primitive life," Buseck said. "And apply those types of measurements to the search for such life."
The focus of Buseck and McCartney's study is to look for clues of former life in bacteria preserved in the meteorite.
The only evidence that life existed on Mars are tiny crystals of the mineral magnetite found in bacteria. The same mineral is also found on Earth.
According to NASA officials, the magnetite crystals found in a meteorite are structurally perfect and have unique, complex three-dimensional shapes.
"There are very specific sizes and shapes of these crystals," McCartney said.
Strong evidence of possible former life on Mars would be found if the distinct shapes of the crystals from the meteorite match the shapes of the crystals found on Earth.
"We have developed improved methods for measuring small crystals more precisely than was possible previously," Buseck said.
Buseck and McCartney hesitated to comment about the results of the project until further research is done.
"We are looking for some quality or aspect of the crystals that indicate that they are produced biologically," McCartney said.
McCartney is hoping to do more research from rocks collected on Mars in 2003 when rovers will land on the planet and gather samples.
"If crystals don't match, it doesn't mean that there is not life on Mars," she said.
Findings will be announced throughout the project, McCartney said. She hopes the two-year project will be funded for an extra three years.
Reach Jennifer Voges at jennyvoges@hotmail.com.
