Canadian scientists to help develop Mars tool

Canadian scientists will help develop a new instrument that will study the atmosphere on Mars and search for signs of life on that planet.

The MATMOS (Mars Atmospheric Trace Molecule Occultation Spectrometer) project is a partnership among the Canadian Space Agency, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology.

The Canadian team will include:

• James Drummond of Dalhousie University in Halifax.
• Jonathan Abbatt, Barbara Sherwood Lollar, Kimberly Strong and Kaley Walker of the University of Toronto.
• Jack McConnell of York University in Toronto.
• Ed Cloutis of the University of Winnipeg.

MATMOS will be used aboard the 2016 ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter mission sponsored by NASA and the European Space Agency.

The instrument will measure the atmosphere on Mars for biological sources of methane, the Canadian Space Agency said in a news release. The gas was found on Mars in 2003 in greater abundance than expected.