Guests: John Batchelor, Dr. Sunanda Sharma, Dr. David Livingston. Topics: Perseverance finds organics on Mars.
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John Batchelor and I welcomed Dr. Sunanda Sharma of JPL to the program to discuss Perseverance with its SHERLOC instrument finding organics on Mars. Our guest discussed organics, why they are not necessarily a tool of life detection or biosignatures. She described the process of finding the organics, the analysis, and the prep for bringing the cores back to Earth for analysis on the Mars Sample Return mission in 2033. Our guest was asked why the sample return was not set for earlier than 2033. She did respond to the question including the time line for ESA components needed for the sample return. Our guest was also asked about keeping the core samples safe from damage and deterioration while waiting until 2033 or maybe even longer. In the second segment, John gave our guest an unlimited budged and she said she would use it to go much deeper for core samples. Listen to her explanation of go deeper and why she thought that would be critical and most important. There are many articles on announcement. One that John and I used for this interview can be found at www.space.com/perseverance-rover-mars-samples-rich-organics.
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You can email Mr. Batchelor or or Dr. Sharma through me. Dr. Sharma can also be reached through JPL.
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