“...we want to understand the geological history of the area and look for signs of life” - Dr Matt Balme (Open Univeristy, ExoMars Rover Science Operations Working Group member) ExoMars is a European Space Agency mission to address the question of whether life has ever existed on Mars. In March 2021 the Rosalind Franklin rover will land on and surface of Mars, seeking out geologically interesting sites to drill below the surface, to determine if life ever existed on our neighbour planet. Speaking at the UCD School of Geography's 'Shaping the Future' seminar series, Dr Matt Balme, planetary scientist and ExoMars Rover Pan-Cam camera operator, spoke on the question of life at mars and the purpose of the mission. In this lecture he presents examples of both modern and ancient martian landscapes, and states the evidence for liquid water having modified the surface over the past few millions or tens of million years. He is a senior lecturer at Open University, working in the OU Planetary Environments research group - in the OU School of Physical Sciences. His main research interest is to understand the recent geological history of Mars and how climate has shaped the surface. UCD Twitter: twitter.com/ucddublin UCD Facebook: www.facebook.com/universitycollegedublin UCD Instagram: instagram.com/ucddublin UCD Homepage: www.ucd.ie