Searching for Signs of Life on Mars

ESA's (The European Space Agency) ExoMars rover is headed to the red planet in 2020, on a mission to search for signs of past or present life. One of its primary tools in this endeavor is MOMA, the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer. MOMA is a sophisticated suite of technologies that squeezes a lab full of chemistry equipment into a package the size of a toaster oven. Its mass spectrometer subsystem and main electronics were built at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md, and mark the first use of a linear ion trap on another planet - a leap forward in the search for life beyond Earth.
Learn more about MOMA and the ExoMars rover:
This video is public domain and along with other supporting visualizations can be downloaded from the Scientific Visualization Studio at:
Additional animations of MOMA are in the public domain and can be downloaded from the Scientific Visualization Studio at:
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Dan Gallagher
William Brinckerhoff (NASA/GSFC): Lead Scientist
Veronica Pinnick (UMBC): Scientist
Dan Gallagher (USRA): Producer
Krystofer Kim (USRA): Animator
Joy Ng (USRA): Narrator
Dan Gallagher (USRA): Writer
William Steigerwald (NASA/GSFC): Science Writer
Rob Andreoli (AIMM): Lead Videographer
John Caldwell (AIMM): Videographer
Matthew R. Radcliff (USRA): Support
Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET Systems Inc.): Technical Support
Music provided by Killer Tracks: "Fast Motion" by Stephen Daniel Lemaire, "Game Show Spheres 5-6" by Anselm Kreuzer, "Floating" by Ben Niblett & Jon Cotton
If you liked this video, subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel:
Follow NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
· Facebook:
· Twitter
· Flickr
· Instagram
· Google+