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The red planet may be just a drop of water in our huge cosmos, but Mars has always been a key curiosity place for extraterrestrial life.
Now, a high-tech camera could solve the age-old question: is there – or has there ever been – life on Mars?
By 2021, the ExoMars rover of the European Space Agency (ESA) must land on the planet.
Europe's first global rover, its launch is scheduled for July 2020. But an important milestone in its creation has been reached this week.
Airbus watched the machine at Stevenage in the UK.
Well, not literally his eyes. But the "scientific cameras" are now installed, which will help the mission to determine if there is any capacity for life on the Martian surface.
The panoramic camera (PanCam) will be the only instrument manufactured in the UK on the rover, according to Airbus.
A team from University College London (UCL) has produced the basic design of the PanCam, which will sit on the rover's mast and take 3D images.
How complex is it?
"PanCam is surprisingly simple," said Mary Carter, Pan-Cam project manager at UCL.
"However, it is not just a standard camera, it has been optimized from the beginning for the Martian environment and designed to be much more reliable than commercial electronics." she added.
It consists of three cameras. Two wide-angle cameras will take panoramic images and a filter wheel will allow them to obtain an image in 12 different wavelengths. A high resolution camera will take other color images.
Preparing a camera for a new planet creates new problems, according to Carter. The biggest challenge of a Mars mission is the temperatures the instrument will be exposed to during operation. These can go down to -130 degrees Celsius overnight and reach up to 20 ° C during the day, she says.
"The components must be designed to take into account this change in order to avoid any damage."
Temperatures are not the only atmospheric obstacle.
The surface of Mars would also be very radioactive.
The PanCam will provide images that highlight the surface locations of water-rich minerals, thereby indicating potential drilling sites to scientists.
That's why the ExoMars rover, named Rosalind Franklin, will be equipped with a 2-meter drill – so you can dig under the surface and reach parts of the planet unscathed from extreme conditions for life.
The rover itself is almost finished at Stevenage and will then be shipped to Airbus in Toulouse for an environmental testing program to prepare it for launch.
There is now strong evidence that all life signatures would have been eroded over time due to the harshness of the Martian environment, according to UCL's Carter. Even though the rover and PanCam can not reveal life on Mars, the UCL team is eager to reach the planet.
"We are excited to see the very first 360 ° panaromic view of Mars that we will adopt, which will certainly be an image we cherish for life and which we will probably put on our refrigerator door," she said.
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