An article on Space.com was released today regarding a new experiment similar to a pregnancy test that is designed to search for signs of life on Mars. The experiment is called the "Life Marker Chip" or LMC and was developed by the European Space Agency (ESA). The post-stamp-sized experiment was launched last week aboard a Russian rocket that was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The tiny experiment contains more than 2,000 life-detecting samples that glow if they detect life-critical compounds like protein or DNA. Scientists and engineers hope that the chip can remain viable in the harsh radiation, temperatures and vacuum of space during a trip to Mars. Andrew Steele, a molecular biologist at the Carnegie Institution in Washington D.C. said, "This will be the first time that these types of materials will have flown unprotected in space in a manner similar to a flight to Mars".
The LMC experiment uses color-changing chemicals to detect traces of hormones found in greater numbers after conception. Scientists will examine the samples when the mission returns to Earth on September 25th.
The manager of the experiment hopes to have the LMC strapped aboard the ESA's "ExoMars" robotic rover mission, which is planned for launch in 2013.
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