The exobiology exploration of Mars: a survey of the European approaches

The similarities between the early histories of Mars and Earth raise the concomitant basic question: does our knowledge of primitive terrestrial life and of the early history of Mars allow us to expect life to have developed on Mars? The paper by McKay et al. (1996. Science 273, 924–930.) reported possible relic biogenic activity in a Martian meteorite. Although this discovery is certain to be controversial, it gave a new impetus to the search for fossil life on Mars. American, European and Japanese space agencies have planned a very intensive exploration of Mars with a great emphasis on exobiology. Here are summarized the European approaches including the European Space Agency (ESA) Exobiology Multi-user Facility and the Beagle 2 exobiology lander of the ESA Mars Express mission.