Interview

Billions of years ago, the site on Mars where Curiosity analyzed its first rock sample had the conditions necessary to support life on Mars. John Grotzinger, project scientist for the mission, spoke with Astrobiology Magazine about the mission and the new results.

Dawn Sumner helps interpret the visual data that Curiosity rover sees with its cameras. In this interview, she reveals why Curiosity’s first images of Mount Sharp made her cry.

In this interview, Jeff Moersch describes the DAN instrument on the Mars Curiosity rover. Donated by the Russian Federal Space Agency, this instrument will search for underground water without any need for digging.

Richard Leveille of the Canadian Space Agency is one of the scientists working on Curiosity's Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) instrument. ChemCam’s laser will target selected rocks, creating an ionized, glowing plasma that will be used to analyze their composition.

In this interview, Darby Dyar explains how Curiosity rover’s ChemCam instrument will probe the rocks of Mars to learn about the planet from the inside out.

Molecular biologist and complexity theorist, Stuart Kauffman, discusses his role in research taking place as part of the Origin of Life-CERN collaborative project. In February 2013, CERN is set to host private talks concerning the potential for origin of life research at the organization.

In this interview, Roger Summons explains how the SAM instrument is geared to detect organic matter on Mars, and even figure out where it came from.

In this interview, Hans Amundsen explains what rocks from the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard have in common with a famous Mars meteorite.

In this interview, Jennifer Stern explains how she went from studying methane emissions in landfills to searching for signs of life on Mars.

In this interview, Felipe Gómez explains how the REMS instrument on the Curiosity rover could help determine the habitability of Mars.