• Question: have you finished creating the instrument for looking at mars's atmosphere ?

    Asked by williamplommer8 to Adam, Catherine, Karen, Leila, Nazim on 15 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Leila Battison

      Leila Battison answered on 15 Mar 2012:

      Scientists have been looking at Mars’s tiny atmosphere for a few years now from the Mars orbiter. It’s not very impressive, but there are some interesting results that could be a hint for life in the soil on Mars.

      Methane is produced by bacteria on earth, and on Mars , we get patches of methane in the atmosphere every summer… Could be life!

    • Photo: Adam Stevens

      Adam Stevens answered on 15 Mar 2012:

      I assume this is just for me!

      The instrument is in it’s early stages. We are just about to have our PDR (Preliminary Design Review) which means ESA (Europeans Space Agency) will check through all the designs and testing and check it’s ok. Only after than can we start building the final version, which we need to do before 2016. That might seem like a long time, but it takes a lot of work!

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