Have we overlooked life in space?

This year marks 50 years since the search for life on Mars began, when NASA landed its two Viking missions on the Red Planet. Both Viking landers were highly advanced biological laboratories equipped with experiments designed to detect biological activity on Mars.

And the results caused quite a stir! The landers measured releases of gas from the Martian soil that could potentially have originated from microorganisms. But was it really a sign of life?

Searching for life in space is a complex undertaking, and we are often disappointed when what we thought might be life turns out to have a non-biological explanation. The Viking experiments are still debated to this day, and over the past 50 years, Mars missions have produced an increasing number of potential signs of life. The latest came two years ago, when the Perseverance rover captured images of the so-called “leopard spots” on a Martian rock—features that closely resemble structures created by microorganisms on Earth.

But how can we determine whether what we find is truly life or not?

Morten Bo Madsen and Gunver Lystbæk Vestergård will help us explore that question. In fact, they do not entirely agree on whether the search for life has already borne fruit.

Gunver Lystbæk Vestergård holds an MA in Public Communication and a PhD in science journalism, specializing in physics, astronomy, and the history of science. In her latest book, Our Living Universe, she takes a deep dive into the search for life in space, exploring the scientific, historical, and human dimensions of that quest—and explaining why she is convinced that finding life beyond Earth is not a question of if, but when.

Morten Bo Madsen is an Associate Professor and Mars researcher at the University of Copenhagen and has been involved in every NASA mission to the Martian surface since 1997. For nearly 30 years, he has helped search for life on the Red Planet and can share firsthand insights into the challenges of tackling one of humanity’s greatest questions while the whole world watches.

Bring your friends and family for a fascinating evening exploring one of science’s biggest questions: Are we alone in the universe? In the company of two of Denmark’s leading science communicators and researchers, you will gain a unique insight into the search for life beyond Earth—beneath the spectacular star-filled sky of the planetarium dome.