the Urey

NASA-funded researchers are developing a machine that would be able to detect life on Mars. It's called the Urey: Mars Organic and Oxidant Detector. The European Space Agency is planning to put the Urey on its ExoMars rover that will launch in 2013. From a spoon full of Mars soil ground into fine powder, the Urey will "detect key molecules associated with life at a sensitivity roughly a million times greated than previous". It will not only detect the molecules but it will measure how long it takes Mars to "erase" those "molecular clues". Specifically the Urey will look at amino acids. It has a way to detect the abundance of the different forms of amino acids. If there is a 50/50 ratio of both forms, then we know that the amino acids were produced non-biologically, but if there is a very uneven ratio, then it points to a biological source. Read more here.