- Meenakshi Wadhwa studies Mars samples to search for signs of life on the planet
- NASA's Mars sample return mission is currently on hold due to budget constraints
- Private space companies like SpaceX may help reduce costs of sample return missions
Meenakshi Wadhwa, who is among the world's finest planetary scientists, was responsible for looking for life on Mars based on return data from the rovers on the Red Planet. In a conversation with NDTV at Davos, Wadhwa said they have collected some "incredibly interesting and very tantalising" samples in terms of data that they have been able to acquire from them.
"NASA has plans for bringing those samples back, but those plans are on hold," she said.
The scientist who now heads the Scripps Institution of Oceanography said the plans are on hold because of budget issues in NASA.
"NASA has some budget issues, and so those plans are on hold, at least for the foreseeable future. I hope we'll bring those samples back at some point, but those we'll be able to answer. I think they're our nearest term opportunity to answer that big question of whether life ever arose anywhere else in our solar system besides here," Wadhwa told NDTV.
The entry of private companies in the space sector may help bring costs down, she said.
"We have to think of some out-of-the-box solutions to really get the cost down of the mission to bring back these samples, and it's my hope that there might be an opportunity with commercial space entities like SpaceX being involved, perhaps of Blue Origin. Some of these companies are developing some really, really amazing technologies and at much cheaper costs, so we'll see what happens, but I'm optimistic," she said.
She recalled that when she left India to attend graduate school, the country did not have a space programme of the kind it has now.
"Now it's just so exciting to see all of the exploration that India has been able to do," said Wadhwa.
Her focus in the institute where she is working is on the link between the evolution of our planet with planetary developments elsewhere in the solar system. She was also director of the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University.
The 56th edition of WEF in Davos-Klosters brings together nearly 3,000 leaders from over 130 countries.
