NASA

Artist's depiction of the Mars Rover on the surface of Mars

There could be alien life on Mars, but will our rovers be able to find it?

23 Feb 2023

New research published today in Nature Communications suggests the rovers’ current equipment might not actually be up to the task of finding evidence of life.

Perseverance rover’s search for life on Mars: from the outback to the red planet

19 Feb 2021

As NASA’s Perseverance rover lands on Mars, UNSW is playing a key role in the search for life on the red planet. In July 2019, Professor Martin Van Kranendonk took a team of NASA and European Space Agency scientists to the Pilbara, in the Western Australian outback.

Researching air-eating microbes in Antarctica

27 Aug 2020

UNSW Sydney researchers have found their previous discovery of bacteria living on air in Antarctica is likely a process that occurs globally, further supporting the potential existenc

Microbes living on air a global phenomenon

19 Aug 2020

UNSW researchers have found their previous discovery of bacteria living on air in Antarctica is likely a process that occurs globally, further supporting the potential existence of microbial life on alien planets.

Luke Steller teaching students how to find fossils

Ancient signs of life: inspiring the next generation of scientists in the outback

30 Jul 2020

As Perseverance prepares to launch for Mars, two UNSW PhD students look back on a field trip that gave Indigenous high school students a behind-the-scenes look at the rover’s upcoming mission.

Astrobiologists put Mars Rover life-detecting equipment to the test

04 May 2020

Scientists have used the same methods that will soon be used to search for evidence of life on Mars to look for evidence of the earliest forms of life on Earth at a location in South Australia.

Artist's interpretation of a protoplanetary disk

Scientists seize rare chance to watch faraway star system evolve

02 Mar 2020

At only 1 per cent the age of the Sun, the DS Tuc binary system shows us how a planet might naturally develop before its orbit is disturbed by external forces.

Dig deep: Australia's know-how makes it a perfect $150m partner for NASA's Moon and Mars shots

26 Sep 2019

From solar sail-powered spacecraft, to laser communications, to asteroid detection systems, there is no shortage of Australian ideas and expertise to help NASA explore the Moon and Mars.

Searching for signs of ancient life

30 Aug 2019

UNSW scientists - led by Professor Martin van Kranendonk - have shown a group of Mars specialists the secrets of the remote Pilbara's ancient rocks - all in preparation for NASA's and ESA's Mars 2020 missions.

App helps ecologists map vulnerable ecosystems within minutes

27 Jul 2018

A mapmaking app created by UNSW scientists harnesses the power of Google and NASA to empower ecologists to create a view on ecosystems without any specialist equipment.

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