Alberta-based scientist part of NASA Mars probe looking for signs of life

A Canadian scientist says helping NASA with a mission to Mars to look for signs of life is the fulfillment of a childhood dream.

Chris Herd of the University of Alberta is one of the advisers on a Mars probe that is to pick up rocks on the red planet, study them, then seal them away to be picked up on a later mission.

Herd says Perseverance, the latest Mars rover, is being sent to an ancient lake bed on a theory that such spots are most likely to contain signs of life.

The Perseverance is to be launched Thursday.

Herd says he first began dreaming about working with rocks from Mars when he was 13 years old.

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NASA plans to return to Mars to retrieve samples left by Perseverance in about a decade.