If there are fossil remnants of primitive aquatic lifeforms present in what is supposed to be a dry lakebed (Gusev landing site), would the Micro-imager (MI) be able to image such fossils?
R. Mark Elowitz, Las Cruces, NM Answer: Thanks for your very intriguing question! I’ve wondered exactly the same thing myself, though I’ve never heard any talk about the answer. In theory, what you suggest should be possible, but most people speculate Mars probably never developed life beyond something like a bacterium (if even that). I’m not sure about the resolution of MI, but when we were sitting above the soil a few days ago, it was about 1 millimeter. The resolution would improve if closer to the soil, but I would imagine not to the level of seeing bacterial fossils. Large bacteria are typically around 10 micrometers in size, or about 0.01 millimeters, which is typically below the resolution of most light microscopes (vs. scanning electron microscopes, for example). However, I would love MI to prove us wrong during the MER mission, especially with the discovery of multi-cellular organisms! That would probably be the most amazing discovery in human history! Thanks for your awesome
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