East Anglian Astrophysical Research Organisation … is not the only organisation investigating the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe.

Tonight at around 20:55 UTC (London time) or 15:55 EST, the NASA Mars rover is due to land on the red planet in an area where underground water may or may have existed in the past. It’s thought that some evidence of life might be possible. If it’s anything life evidence of life on Venus discovered last year, don’t wait for aliens with Hollywood bug eyes and thin bodies to appear! We doubt there will be any sign of a character on a bike asking to make a telephone call! We’ll be watching from an hour before the estimated time of landing. There’s no guarantee of success, even of the landing. Half of all landings have failed! Remember my tutor, Dr Colin Pillinger of the first Mars lander Beagle 2. However, the crafts solar panels did not deploy properly, and could not transmit a successful landing. Colin sadly died in 2014, less than a year before NASA photographed it. Let’s hope NASAs latest craft survives the hazardous landing!

EAARO has a much more innovative approach to SETI, the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. To find out more, watch NASA tonight and then prepare for a fabulous few days of UK media attention, attracting girls into science and engineering and artists too!