Mars exploration at NASA "follows the water." Earlier missions had found that liquid water existed on Mars in the distant past. Perseverance’s older cousin, the Curiosity rover, explored the “habitability” of Mars. It found nutrients and energy sources that microbes could have used, and established that Mars indeed had regions that could have been friendly to life in the ancient past. Did life take hold on the Red Planet? Perseverance takes the next step by looking for the signs of past life itself.

Your goal is to make a plan for the Perseverance Rover to answer the question “is there life on Mars”. 

Your plan should include answers to the following:

→ what data should the Perseverance Rover collect to search for signs of life? 

→ what does evidence of life on mars look like? 

→ what food and nutrients should the Mars rover look for that are consumed by most life we know? 

Use what you know about the characteristics of life to make a mission plan for finding life on mars.

Life On Mars Mission Proposal