NASA’s Mars 2020 mission, which will look for signs of past life on Mars, will use smart methods originally developed to find the oldest life on Earth, according the mission’s Deputy Project Scientist, Dr Ken Williford. The 2020 mission builds on the successes of prior rovers, to make coordinated measurements that could detect signs of ancient life – or biosignatures – in their original spatial context. These techniques, known as “spatially resolved biosignature analysis” derive from geochemical analysis of early life on Earth.