Extreme Organisms | National Geographic

as bedene oh and bernabei abort their
mission NASA scientists chris mckay gets
ready to look for life with a device
that will one day be used to explore
Mars to mackay the crystals are time
capsules that might help him in a search
for life on other planets the cave here
provides two bits of information with
respect to the search for life one is it
tells us about life at high temperature
that’s interesting but even more
interesting it tells us how evidence of
life is preserved over a long period of
time over geological time McKay has
brought a remand spectrometer a new
device NASA is testing for space
explorations this is its first field
test in an extreme environment when I
push the start button it energizes a
very bright laser laser shoots into the
sample and most of the light from the
laser just comes scattering back out but
a small amount of the energy is absorbed
by the sample and re-radiated at
different wavelengths unlike penny
Boston McKay’s spectrometer can look for
life without scratching into the
crystals now he’s going to find out if
it works
I think this way I just okay sounds good
I’ll tall are you and put it up against
it I now taking a reading ready no the
desert hold it up there you’re very
effect okay McCain works with Tulio
bernabei who holds a sensor against a
crystal McKay initiates the laser firing
invisible light into the crystal okay so
you’re doing ready now started looking
fine even in a high-tech okay very good
the crystal structure sends one
signature the spectrometers laser looks
for others signatures of life-forms
and it finds something is it evidence of
life the spectrometer confirms that it’s
organic material possibly an ancient
life form but the spectrometer only
captures raw data it requires further
analysis back at NASA like penny Boston
he’s hopeful he’s found evidence of life
his half hour is up
the mission went better than he ever
dreamed