Mars rover could one day 'sniff' out life on red planet

A Mars rover could one day be equipped with a sensor that would allow it to "sniff" out signs of life.

NASA is working to adapt a device that's currently used to detect chemicals, toxins and pathogens in the air on here on Earth for use in planetary exploration.

Called theBio-Indicator Lidar Instrument, or BILI, the device uses lightto detect and ultimately analyze the composition of particles in the atmosphere.

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Branimir Blagojevic, a NASA technologist who used to work for a company that developed BILI, has created a prototype to demonstrate how the tech could be used to detect bio-signatures on Mars.

"NASA has never used it before for planetary ground level exploration. If the agency develops it, it will be the first of a kind," Blagojevic said in a statement issued by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

Rover gets a nose

The idea is that BILI would act "a rover's sense of smell."

It would be attachedto a rover's mast and scan the terrain for dust plumes. BILI would then use its ultraviolet lasers to pulse light at the dust.

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Scientists could then analyze the dust'sflorescence emissions from substances that have absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation and potentially determine whether it containsorganic particles, now or in the past.

"If the bio-signatures are there, it could be detected in the dust," Blagojevic said.

BILI's range means the rover could sniff for these bio-signatures from a distance of several hundred metres, meaning it could analyze slopes and other areas of the planet's dangerous terrain that are hard forarover to reach with more up-close-and-personal instruments.

What's more, a second BILI device could be attached to an orbiting spacecraft to searchfor bio-signatures in the solar system.

"BILI's measurements do not require consumables other than electrical power and can be conducted quickly over a broad area," Blagojevicsaid. "This is a survey instrument, with a nose for certain molecules."

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