Our faculty recently had the pleasure of welcoming Mgr. Slávka Carvalho Andrejkovičová, PhD. from the University of Aveiro, Portugal, who presented a fascinating and timely topic – the search for traces of life on Mars.

The lecture introduced the work of the Curiosity rover, which collects samples from the Martian surface. Since Mars is very far away and the samples cannot yet be transported back to Earth, scientists must be creative and rely only on the analytical instruments available directly on the rover.

By studying clay minerals on Earth – so-called terrestrial analogs – researchers develop and test methods that could help detect possible traces of life on Mars.

This inspiring lecture showed how science, creativity, and modern technology come together in the exploration of the Red Planet 🌍🚀.
It concluded with an inspiring quote by Carl Sagan:

“The universe is a pretty big place. If it’s just us, seems like an awful waste of space.” 🌌