I was invited by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to be a guest speaker at their Honors Series. Here is the abstract of the talk I will give on October 1, 2024.
Space is an exciting subject for curious minds. It hides many mysteries that we have only just begun to comprehend. Our journey to understand the universe started with the dawn of sentience on Earth, and it may yet take many lifetimes to uncover. And that is fine; a million years from now, the universe will be almost identical to the one we observe now. The only expected change will be in our ever-improving technology. And so, for most mysteries, patience will pay off.
The exception to this rule is the search for active life on Mars.
Field studies in extreme environments and experiments with Mars analogs showed us that Mars likely hosts extant life, meaning currently surviving. But without direct evidence, we cannot be certain about it.
With this mystery, we must act now. The Committee on Space Research concluded that humans visiting Mars will inevitably lead to the exchange of biological material between the planets. The era of Mars without human visitors is projected to end in the next decade. The time window of the uncontacted Mars biosphere might be closing.
There are many known reasons to study a suspected biosphere before visiting it. At the very least, we can learn from it. There are also many unknown reasons to do so. For example, we do not know the likelihood and the extent of the risks associated with bringing Mars life to Earth.
We must do our due diligence. I believe it is our moral duty to attempt to detect and characterize the Martian biosphere before we go there. I hope future generations will look back and say, ‘We did our best.’
In my talk, I will share my personal astrobiological journey and address the following topics:
- Why we believe there is likely life on Mars.
- What caused the neglect of the Martian biosphere since the Viking missions.
- The science and engineering plans for finding life on Mars within the next decade.
- Projected costs and financing of our mission.
- How to start a competition to motivate others to join the race to find and study alien life.
I’m reaching out to you on behalf of Agnostic Life Finding Association – Mars (alfamars.org): Help us to ensure we get to know our neighbors before we start visiting each other.
