UCL Press Release: Laser fluorescence could find life on Mars

A team of scientists from the United States and the UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory has developed a technique using ultraviolet light to identify organic matter in soils that they say could be used to document the existence of life on Mars.

The researchers' proposed instrumentation could operate on any Mars lander or rover, such as the current Phoenix mission or NASA's Mars Science Laboratory scheduled for launch in 2009 - both of which are looking at habitability - or the European Space Agency's ExoMars mission in 2013 that will look directly at the past or present existence of life on the red planet.

To read the complete press release, use the link at the top of this article.