ArticleAstrobiology2023
A Comparative Study of Methods for Detecting Extraterrestrial Life in Exploration Missions to Mars and the Solar System II: Targeted Characteristics, Detection Techniques, and Their Combination for Survey, Detection, and Analysis.
Article in Astrobiology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We present a comparative study of the methods used in the search for extraterrestrial microorganism life, including a summary table where different life-detection techniques can be easily compared as an aid to mission and instrument design aimed at life detection. This is an extension of previous study, where detection techniques for a series of target characteristics and molecules that could constitute a positive life detection were evaluated. This comparison has been extended with a particular consideration to sources of false positives, the causes of negative detection, the results of detection techniques when presented regarding terrestrial life, and additional science objectives that could be achieved outside the primary aim of detecting life. These additions address both the scientific and programmatic side of exploration mission design, where a successful proposal must demonstrate probable outcomes and be able to return valuable results even if no life is found. The applicability of the life detection techniques is considered for Earth life, Earth-independent life (life emerging independently from that on Earth,) and Earth-kin life (sharing a common ancestor with life on Earth), and techniques effective in detecting Earth life should also be useful in the detection of Earth-kin life. However, their applicability is not guaranteed for Earth-independent life. As found in our previous study, there exists no realistic single detection method that can conclusively determine the discovery of extraterrestrial life, and no method is superior to all others. In this study, we further consider combinations of detection techniques and identify imaging as a valuable addition to molecule detection methods, even in cases where there is insufficient resolution to observe the detailed morphology of a microbial cell. The search for extraterrestrial life is further divided into a survey-and-detection and analysis-and-conclusion step. These steps benefit from different detection techniques, but imaging is necessary for both parts.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.