After establishing that Mars once had significant amount of water on its surface, the Mars Science Laboratory (which includes the Curiosity rover) was sent to Mars to determine whether Mars had the right ingredients in the rocks to host life, signaling a shift to the next theme of вЂњExplore HabitabilityвЂќ. The Pathfinder mission and Mars Exploration Rovers (Spirit and Opportunity) were sent to Mars to вЂњFollow the Water,вЂќ recognizing that liquid water is necessary for life to exist on Earth. The field of Astrobiology saw a resurgence due to the controversy surrounding the possible fossil life in the ALH84001 meteorite, and from the outsized public response to this announcement, and subsequent interest from Congress and the White House, NASAвЂ™s Astrobiology Program ( )and one of its major programs, the NASA Astrobiology Institute ( ) were formed.ДЄlso at this time, NASAвЂ™s Mars Exploration Program began to investigate Mars with an increasing focus on missions to the Red Planet. The twin Viking landers of 1976 were NASAвЂ™s first life detection mission, and although the results from the experiments failed to detect life in the Martian regolith, and resulted in a long period with fewer Mars missions, it was not the end of the fascination that the Astrobiology science community had for the red planet.

However, the exploration of Mars has been intertwined with NASAвЂ™s search for life from the beginning. Astrobiology is a relatively new field of study, where scientists from a variety of disciplines (astronomy, biology, geology, physics, etc.) work together to understand the potential for life to exist beyond Earth.

Esa v twin software download