Life as we know it does not exist on Mars, says Dr Cordula Robinson. However, she is confident alien life does exist elsewhere in the universe.

Scientists have recently found bacteria-like globules in meteorites which they believe come from Mars, though Cordula says there is much discussion about exactly what they signify. "Even so, plans for new Mars missions have been given a boost," she says delightedly. As a result of last year's successful Mars landing, several more missions - including a manned one - are planned to the Red Planet over the next few years.

Cordula, a research associate at Boston University, does not believe scientists will find alien life on mars. "Not unless it is bacteria-sized," she says. "I even doubt whether aliens exist in our solar system, though I'm sure they do somewhere in the universe. It's far too large for them not to. Every star we see is like our sun, so it may have its own solar system with its own earth-type planets."

However, she admits: "I wouldn't be surprised if there was bacteria-size life on Mars. Mars has had water in the past."

Cordula now works at Boston University's Center for Remote Sensing and is an expert in terrestrial radar image interpretation. "The center is where we use satellite imagery to analyse a subject we are interested in," she says. "I use radar images from the Spaceborne Imaging Radar Space Shuttle missions that flew in 1994, and the Canadian Radarsat satellite. We use them over desert regions to try and find water that could be up to five metres below the desert sand."

The former Bradford Girls' Grammar School student says radar images have shown the deserts of Egypt to have been surprisingly wet places in the past. "This is the main focus of my work," she says. "To understand how these resources can be developed, given the harsh, arid climate of today."

Cordula gained an honours degree in geology at Durham University and a Ph.D from the physics and astronomy department after studying Mars at University College London. "I wasn't a great student," she admits. "I didn't like being told what to do! I much preferred to be able to think things out for myself."

After that her career really took off.

"I had been to America a few times while at university so I decided to try for a job there," she explains. "I got a job at the Harvard Smithsonian Astro-physical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, working on the Magellan project." Her work involved a detailed study of Venus and the electrical properties of its surface. She has worked from nearby Boston University since then.

Cordula worked in Berlin on the 1996 European project to Mars. Unfortunately the mission failed when the rocket blew up over South America before reaching orbit. "My work was based on analysing Earth images of the camera that was meant to have imaged the surface of Mars," Cordula says. "So we would know what kind of information could be reliably extracted."

Her work involved using the Viking Orbiter which was launched in 1975 and took almost a year to reach Mars. "Viking was initiated with the aim of increasing our knowledge of Mars in several scientific disciplines," she says. "But it was specially geared to seek evidence of life. It was established that life as we know it had not been certified on Mars."

Her former bosses, Prof John Guest and Prof John Wood, and her current boss, Dr Farouk El-Baz, were all involved in the Apollo space programme from 1967-72 which produced the Moon landings. "They worked as geologists and trained the astronauts," Cordula says.

Cordula is still very much involved in planetary societies and says she would like to work in that field again.

Modestly, and almost reluctantly, she admits to being an expert in her field of work. Her name is linked to no fewer than 20 publications, including the Astronomy magazine. She is a fellow of the Royal Geological Society of London and a member of the American Assoc-iation for the Advancement of Science, the American and European Geophysical Unions, and the Canadian Institute of Geomatics. "I get journals from the organisations which I som-etimes prepare articles for," she says. "They also arrange conferences where I give presentations." Indeed, she is in demand from institutions all over the world to give lectures.

Apart from the odd phrase like 'pretty neat', she still retains a strong Yorkshire accent. "I always wanted to be a vet like James Herriot when I was at school," she says. "But I wasn't very good at biology. I changed my A-level to geography and then did geology."

She says she always had an interest in geology because having been brought up in Yorkshire 'the landscape gets to you'. Next to fish and chips, the countryside is the thing she misses most about Yorkshire.

"I would love to return to England at some stage," she says. "I would like to do the kind of research I am doing now and maybe do some lectures. I would also like to renovate an old property on the Yorkshire moors."

Cordula, who was born in Woodville Road, Keighley, is the daughter of former Riddlesden coal merchant William Robinson - known as Donald - and his wife Reingard, who is from Gdansk in Poland. Cordula has an older sister, Catharina, who lives in Knaresborough. Her dad died five years ago, and her mother still has a home in Saltaire. Cordula takes her name from the region in Poland where her mother hails from.

"It has all been very exciting and I have travelled a great deal," Cordula says. "I have also worked with some brilliant people."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.