Extraterrestrial life detection

A fundamental objective of the NASA Planetary Exploration Program is to attempt to cast light on the origin of the planets and the solar system. An integral part of the origin of the planets is the origin of life. In other words, the origin of life seems to be a natural and inevitable consequence of physical and chemical processes occurring during the formation of a planet, particularly a planet like the earth. The question is, how do we formulate and implement experiments designed to test the potential of another planet to give rise to and subsequently to sustain an indigenous biota? Experiments must be designed to seek out those fundamental attributes of life by which we ordinarily recognize life. They must be capable of being interpreted in an unambiguous fashion and of being integrated into an experimental package which can deal with a planetary surface so that the evidence required can be obtained through organizedsequential analyses of a relatively small sample of the surface. The basic life attributes discussed are chemistry, morphology, growth, and metabolism. Included are experimental approaches to the acquisition of such data.