Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 13, 2026

Conducting Miller-Urey Experiments
Published on: January 21, 2014
An origin of life on Mars
1NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California 94035, USA. chris.mckay@nasa.gov <chris.mckay@nasa.gov>
Abstract:
Evidence of past liquid water on the surface of Mars suggests that this world once had habitable conditions and leads to the question of life. If there was life on Mars, it would be interesting to determine if it represented a separate origin from life on Earth. To determine the biochemistry and genetics of life on Mars requires that we have access to an organism or the biological remains of one-possibly preserved in ancient permafrost. A way to determine if organic material found on Mars represents the remains of an alien biological system could be based on the observation that biological systems select certain organic molecules over others that are chemically similar (e.g., chirality in amino acids).
Related Concept Videos
Origin of Cellular Life
Conditions on Early Earth
Conditions on Early Earth
Origin of Photosynthesis
The Colonization of Land
Torque Free Motion
