BBC Scotland Highlands and Islands Reporter
Getty imagesThe technology that will be used in the search for proofs of life on Mars has been tested in the Scottish Highlands.
The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to send a robotic rover to the red planet to study its geology – and to seek fossils and minerals.
A team from the University of St Andrews has tested equipment in Lower Diaig, in Torridon, where there are rocks that have billions of years and similar to those found on Mars.
The tests have included cameras of the type to use as “eyes” of the rover, and a kit which can detect the old biology kept in the rock.
THE Exomars program includes two missions.
The first, called Trace Gas Orbiter, was launched in 2016 while the second has a target launch of 2028 and aims to land the rover on the planet.
The robot is named after The scientist born in London Rosalind FranklinDied in 1958.
ESA said the missions would tackle the question of whether life has ever existed on Mars.
Dr. Claire Cousins of St Andrews University said that mission technology needed rigorous tests on earth to make sure it would work on the red planet.
She said that rare geology around the lower Diabaig was “ideal” as a test bed.
She told BBC Scotland Program to Earth: “The rocks were not transformed, they were not cooked and pressed and crushed under the mountain belts.
“They were beautifully preserved – a slice of time.”
The rocks include the Mudstone of a billion years and other rocks which are stacked on each other in diapers.
Dr. Cousins said: “These are perfect for showing us that there was liquid water once – a living environment for life.
“In addition, these rocks are very good at capturing evidence of this old past biology. It is sandwiched between the rocks.”
She added: “We do not yet know if there was never life on Mars, but it is the types of rocks that will preserve it.”
Getty imagesSeven years ago, a Rover from NASA Mars, Curiosity, explored part of the planet named after Torridon.
Martian geological areas and characteristics have been named by NASA after places on earth.
Several of the names were taken from Scotland and, as well as Torridon, there is a point Siccar, Muck, Wick, Sandwick and Holyrood on Mars.
NASA has chosen the name of Torridon due to the Torridonian supergroup, geological training in the highlands of the northwest which contains some of the oldest evidence in the life of all rocks in the United Kingdom.
In 2012Glenelg organized a celebration in honor of a location on Mars appointed according to the small community of the Highlands.