Have We Overlooked Life in Space?

Have We Overlooked Life in Space? - Planetarium: Tuesday 20 October 2026, 19:15–21:30, Planetarium, Copenhagen. Tickets cost 225 kr.

The Planetarium marks 50 years of the search for life on Mars through an evening exploring NASA's discoveries and the ongoing scientific debate. In 1976, NASA's two Viking landers touched down on Mars with laboratories designed to detect biological activity. They measured gas emissions from the Martian soil that could have originated from microorganisms, raising the question of life on Mars in earnest. Fifty years later, the answer remains contested-it is difficult to distinguish genuine traces of life from chemical processes that merely resemble it. Since Viking, new puzzling discoveries have emerged, including the "leopard spots" photographed by the Perseverance rover on a cliff face in 2024-structures that on Earth can be formed by microorganisms, but whose similarity is not necessarily proof.

The evening programme: 19:15 welcome, 19:20 "Have We Overlooked Life in Space? - Part 1" with Gunver Lystbæk Vestergård, 20:00 break, 20:20 Part 2 with Morten Bo Madsen, 21:00 audience questions, and 21:30 closing remarks.

Gunver Lystbæk Vestergård holds a degree in public administration and a PhD in science journalism with a specialization in physics, astronomy, and the history of science. In her latest book, Our Living Universe, she explores the science, history, and people behind the search for life in space, and she believes the question is not whether we will find life out there, but when. Morten Bo Madsen is a lecturer and Mars researcher at the University of Copenhagen and has participated in all of NASA's missions to the Martian surface since 1997. The two do not necessarily agree on whether we have already found life on Mars, but they share a fascination with the search itself.