Establishing whether the planet Mars has ever supported life is one of the great unanswered questions of modern science.<\/p>\n
On Monday 14 March 2016, the European Space Agency (ESA)<\/a> will be launching its ExoMars Mission to investigate the environment of the Red Planet.<\/p>\n The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO)<\/a>, which is due to launch from Baikonur, Kazakhstan<\/a>, for a seven month journey to Planet Mars, will transport an on-board lab to identify methane gas emissions; this could indicate whether life-forms.<\/p>\n Co-leading on NOMAD (Nadir and Occultation for MArs Discovery)<\/a> with academics from three other higher education and research institutions** is The Open University Department of Physical Sciences.<\/p>\n Last week, we interviewed Senior Lecturer, Department of Physical Sciences at The Open University and\u00a0Co-Principal Investigator of the NOMAD instrument, Dr Manish Patel<\/a>. Here’s his\u00a0brief summary of the mission:<\/p>\n