Earth.com: The search for life on Mars continues
UC Geosciences professor and students contribute to Perseverance rover mission
Earth.com highlighted the University of Cincinnati's contribution to NASA's search for ancient life on Mars.
UC Associate Professor Andy Czaja and his students Andrea Corpolongo, Brianna Orrill and Sam Hall are members of the science team using the Perseverance rover and its helicopter sidekick to explore the red planet.
An illustration of the rover Perseverance, which has spent three years exploring Mars. Illustration/NASA/JPL
Czaja teaches in the Department of Geosciences in UC’s College of Arts and Sciences. He is a paleobiologist and astrobiologist.
“Perseverance has excelled. It’s been fantastic. It has such capable instrumentation for doing the geology work. It’s able to explore distant objects with its zoom lens cameras and can focus on tiny objects at incredible resolution,” Czaja said.
Along the way, the mission has recorded a number of firsts: first powered flight, first recorded sounds of Mars, the longest autonomous drive (nearly a half-mile) and new discoveries about the planet’s geology, atmosphere and climate.
“I hope that Perseverance has just whetted our appetite for more Martian exploration. And bringing back samples will allow us to study Mars and search for evidence of ancient life with instruments that haven’t even been invented yet for years and years to come,” Czaja concluded.
Featured image at top: UC doctoral student Andrea Corpolongo, left, and UC Associate Professor Andy Czaja are on the NASA science team exploring Mars with the Perseverance rover. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand
Related Stories
Will a gas tax help lower prices at the pump?
May 14, 2026
WCPO recently reported on Kentucky and Indiana’s steps to combat surging gas prices, cutting and suspending state gas taxes, respectively. UC economist Michael Jones explained the impact on Cincinnati.
Is a colonoscopy painful?
May 13, 2026
The University of Cincinnati's Susan Kais, MD, assistant professor of clinical medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology in the College of Medicine and UC Health gastroenterologist, recently appeared on the ARC Cincinnati morning program on Local 12/WKRC-TV to answer common questions from viewers about colonoscopies and to dispel myths.
Telescope captures information about lonely Jupiter-like gas giant
May 13, 2026
Science outlets highlight a University of Cincinnati student's collaborative discoveries about an exoplanet 901 light years away.