Testing the survival of microfossils in artificial martian sedimentary meteorites during entry into Earth's atmosphere: the STONE 6 experiment
Résumé
If life ever appeared on Mars, could we find traces of primitive life embedded in sedimentary meteorites? To answer this question, a 3.5 billion-year-old volcanic sediment containing microfossils was embedded in the heat shield of a space capsule in order to test survival of the rock and the microfossils during entry into the Earth's atmosphere (the STONE 6 experiment). The silicified volcanic sediment from the Kitty's Gap Chert (Pilbara, Australia) is considered to be an excellent analogue for Noachian-age volcanic sediments. The microfossils in the chert are also analogues for potential martian life. An additional goal was to investigate the survival of living microorganisms () protected by a 2 cm thick layer of rock in order to test whether living endolithic organisms could survive atmospheric entry when protected by a rocky coating.
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