About
The MARCUS project (Management and Analysis in Restricted Containment of Unknown Samples) is designed to provide, in the short term, key equipment for the preliminary analysis or diagnosis of unknown samples (extraterrestrial or otherwise), requiring specialized storage facilities, containment, monitoring, handling or transport. MARCUS also aims at the agnostic detection of minute traces of energetic or metabolic activities of living systems in unknown solid samples from Earth or other planets or satellites (Mars, Europa…). This is a technical challenge of the utmost importance for the next decade.
The MARCUS project is one of the Work Packages of the large and ambitious research program PEPR Origins leaded by CNRS: Priority program and equipment research to understand our origins : from the formation of planets to life.
The MARCUS project is funded by the French Programme et équipements prioritaires de recherche (PEPR) from 2024 to 2030, and leaded by the Centre National d’Etudes Spaciales (CNES).
