@Aisling "The search for extraterrestrial life is a part of astronomy." Ioan's mobile rang. He looked at it and read a message. "It's my colleague from ESA, the European Space Agency. They have just successfully launched a new Mars orbiter. If everything goes well, it'll reach Mars in October this year, and one of its tasks will be to search the atmosphere of Mars for methane. Methane is one of the most important signs of life.
They're also planning to send a rover to Mars that is going to dig the ground and search it for traces of life."