Searching for Life on the Red Planet

Might the soil on Mars sustain life? Aboard NASA’s Phoenix Mars Mission Lander are four tea-cup-size laboratories that will test Martian soil for its friendliness to life.

NASA’s latest mission to Mars is set to land on the red planet this week in search of evidence that the planet can support life. Tufts University extreme chemist, Dr. Sam Kounaves, built the “laboratory in a teacup” that will test the frozen martian soil. Living on Earth host Bruce Gellerman stopped by the Tuft’s lab for a close encounter.