National Academies urge NASA to prioritize the search for life in early human Mars missions

Space.com reported that the first astronauts who landed on Mars should have focused on searching for signs of past or present life. This guidance came from a document released by the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

The report, titled A Science Strategy for the Human Exploration of Mars, stated, “The detection of life on Mars is a persistent top priority,” placing this goal above all others for future human missions.

NASA planned to send astronauts to the Red Planet as early as the mid-2030s, and the report explained how those missions could have gathered the most meaningful scientific data.

The strategy listed 11 main objectives. The first involved looking for evidence of life, studying early chemical processes, and understanding past environments that may have supported living systems.

The remaining goals covered topics such as water and carbon cycles, geology, astronaut health, dust storms, resource access, DNA concerns, microbial behavior, ecosystem function, and radiation exposure.

The report also described possible mission structures that included both short and long surface stays. It further outlined how future work needed to follow planetary protection rules to avoid contaminating Mars or bringing material back to Earth that could create risk.

Search for life and mission goals 

The report placed the search for life at the top of NASA’s science plans for human Mars missions. It explained that crews were expected to work in locations where “transiently habitable zones” or near-surface ice might have held chemical traces or biological markers.

The document stated that these areas could have offered the strongest chance to identify signs of past activity linked to living systems. It also noted that “human explorers should be able to reach and study environments that could support or even harbor life,” showing the importance of safe access to these regions.

Along with this priority, the document listed several other goals. These included studying Mars’ water and carbon dioxide cycles, mapping the planet’s geology, and observing how the Martian environment affected astronaut bodies and minds.

The strategy also described the need to study dust storms, which could have influenced surface work.

Additional objectives involved checking whether Mars had resources that could support long-term stays, studying how the environment affected DNA and reproduction, and learning how Earth microbes reacted in Martian conditions.

The report also included tasks related to equipment performance in dusty settings, ecosystem behavior with Earth organisms, and radiation studies.

Mission concepts and operational guidance 

The National Academies outlined four possible mission campaigns. The highest-ranked option sent three missions to one site with near-surface ice and varied terrain.

Each mission included a 30-sol crewed stay, an uncrewed cargo delivery, and a 300-sol crewed stay. Another campaign focused on drilling 2 to 5 kilometers into the subsurface, where liquid water was thought to exist.

The other two campaigns introduced changes in mission length and site selection, including a version that sent three short crewed missions to three different regions.

All four concepts shared several elements. Each proposed building a science lab on the surface, returning samples from every mission, and holding a regular “Mars Human-Agent Teaming Summit.”

This event was meant to support coordination between robotic systems, human crews, and artificial intelligence tools.

Planetary protection rules also played an important role. These rules aimed to limit the spread of Earth microbes to Mars and to prevent the return of unknown organisms to Earth.

The report recommended that NASA continue working with partners to update these rules when needed. The goal was to allow astronauts to study areas that could hold traces of life without increasing the risk to either planet.

Stay tuned for more updates.