From Javier MartÃn-Torres, , science lead,
The sentence, “Curiosity begins its epic search for signs of life” on the front cover of your magazine (11 August) is misleading. The aim of Curiosity is not to search for life on Mars. It is not loaded with the suite of instruments that would pursue that goal, unlike, for example, the Viking landers. Curiosity was to assess whether Mars had ever had an environment able to support small life forms.
In other words, its mission is to determine the planet’s “habitability”. The search for habitability is not synonymous with a search for life.
Madrid, Spain
