The hunt for alien life in canton Ticino

A reconstruction of the first European rover heading to Mars in 2028: a geologist from Ticino is also involved in the project. ESA

Two researchers explain how science is searching for traces of life beyond Earth – an interstellar journey from Locarno and Cureglia to exoplanets and Martian rocks.

Are we alone in the universe? Many ask this question, but no one can yet answer it with certainty. When we talk about life beyond Earth, however, we do not have to imagine little green men with large eyes. Extraterrestrial life may be detected through traces of organic matter dating back millions or even billions of years, or through the search for planets capable of hosting life.

On this front, the southern Swiss canton of Ticino is home to several researchers and projects recently featured on the programme “Prima Ora” on Swiss public broadcaster RSI.

A Martian geologist in Neuchâtel

The search for extraterrestrial life begins on the one planet where life is known to exist: Earth. Some researchers study so-called extremophile organisms, which are able to survive in extreme environments such as the hot springs of Yellowstone or the Arctic ice – conditions similar to those on inhospitable planets.

Others analyse ancient rocks to identify fossilised bacteria and microbes, with the aim of applying these techniques to extraterrestrial environments.

Tomaso Bontognali with a fragment of South African rock. RSI

“Such ancient rocks exist in only a few places on Earth, such as South Africa and Australia,” explains Ticino geologist Tomaso Bontognali, showing a South African rock almost 3.5 billion years old in his office. “Understanding what we need to measure on Earth to find life helps us understand what we need to measure with robots on Mars.”

Bontognali, originally from Cureglia and now working at the Space Exploration InstituteExternal link in Neuchâtel, is involved in developing technologies to analyse rock samples for the European Space Agency’s exomars missionExternal link, scheduled for launch in 2028. The mission, delayed several times due to the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, aims to send the first European rover to Mars to explore the subsurface for traces of life.

“We need to carry out the right analyses and, above all, find rocks which may preserve traces of past life,” says the geologist, who also recently spoke about his passion for trail running on the Rete Due programme LaserExternal link.

The reflected light of exoplanets

Professor Svetlana Berdyugina looks even further afield, studying planets beyond our solar system in search of environments that could be friendly to life. The scientific director of the Aldo e Cele Daccò Solar Research Institute (IRSOL)External link in Locarno has devoted her career to exoplanets – planets orbiting stars other than the Sun – including developing methods such as high-precision polarimetry.

“The polarisation of light – the direction in which light waves oscillate – is key to detecting and identifying complex molecules linked to life, particularly those involved in photosynthesis,” says Berdyugina, who has taught at the Faculty of Informatics at Università della Svizzera italiana (USI)External link since 2022, to which IRSOL is affiliated.

Svetlana Berdyugina, scientific director of the Aldo e Cele Daccò Solar Research Institute (IRSOL) in Locarno, a pioneer in the search for exoplanets. IRSOL

She has shown how surface maps of distant Earth-like planets – including continents, oceans and colonies of photosynthetic organisms – can be reconstructed from astronomical observations using advanced numerical methods and laboratory measurements. “Photosynthesis is a key indicator of life,” she says.

More than 5,000 planets have been discovered in our galaxy to date, but only around 70 are similar in size to Earth and potentially habitable. The goal is to identify more of them. “Before finding life, we look for potentially habitable planets where life could have emerged. These are our main goals,” Berdyugina says.

A glimpse into the future

Berdyugina’s project, which recently received federal funding as part of the multidisciplinary NCCR GenesisExternal link programme, aims to determine whether we are alone in the universe. “It would be easier to say no, because we know that sooner or later we will find an answer,” she says.

Closer to home, the discovery of life on Mars would have major implications for the search for inhabited planets beyond our solar system. “It would suggest that life is not so rare and that, given the right conditions, it can develop quite naturally,” says Bontognali.

At the same time, Mars serves as a warning. Once thought to have been similar to Earth, it is now a cold and inhospitable planet due to drastic climatic changes. “This should help us understand how unique and precious the conditions on our planet are,” the geologist concludes.

Translated from Italian using AI/amva/dos

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