Astrobiology - Science topic

Icy moons with subsurface oceans of liquid water rank among the most promising astrobiological targets in our Solar System. In this work, we assess the feasibility of deploying laser sail technology in lieu of conventional chemical propulsion to instantiate precursor life-detection missions. We principally investigate such laser sail missions to En...

Gloeocapsopsis dulcis strain AAB1 is an extremely xerotolerant cyanobacterium isolated from the Atacama Desert (i.e., the driest and oldest desert on Earth) that holds astrobiological significance due to its ability to biosynthesize compatible solutes at ultra-low water activities. We sequenced and assembled the G. dulcis genome de novo using a com...

Advances in metagenomics analysis with the advent of next-generation sequencing have extended our knowledge of microbial communities as compared to conventional techniques providing advanced approach to identify novel and uncultivable microorganisms based on their genetic information derived from a particular environment. Shotgun metagenomics invol...

DNA analysis was performed by PCR followed by agarose gel electrophoresis in order to examine the method’s effectiveness for the human-cell contamination of returned samples in an astrobiology project (the Tanpopo mission). The effect of aerogel fragments on cell-derived DNA detection was investigated by focusing on Alu elements—primate-specific sh...

Malononitrile (C3H2N2) is a highly reactive compound that plays an important role in the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds and may have contributed to the formation of nucleobases and nucleosides in a pre-RNA world. Despite its significance in prebiotic chemistry and potential implications in astrobiology, its possible synthesis has not yet been...

Endolithic microorganisms, ranging from microeukaryotes to bacteria and archaea, live within the cracks and crevices of rocks. Deception Island in Antarctica constitutes an extreme environment in which endoliths face environmental threats such as intense cold, lack of light in winter, high solar radiation in summer, and heat emitted as the result o...

Chemolithoautotrophic organisms thrive under extreme conditions (e.g., high metal concentrations, high temperatures , and low pH) through redox-altering minerals by oxidizing inorganic molecules (e.g., iron, sulfur, and other reduced inorganic sulfur compounds). As the early planetary phases of Earth and Mars are similar, this metabolomic path make...

Gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O) has been identified at the surface of Mars, by both orbiters and rovers. Because gypsum mostly forms in the presence of liquid water as an essential element for sustaining microbial life and has a low porosity, which is ideal for preserving organic material, it is a promising target to look for signs of past microbial life. In t...

Mars spacecraft encounter numerous g -loads that occur along the launch or landing vectors (i.e., called axial vectors) or along lateral off-axes vectors. The goal of this research was to determine if there was a threshold for dislodging spores under brute-force dynamic shock compressional impacts (i.e., henceforth called shock-impacts) or long-ter...

In recent years, strong evidence has emerged indicating the potential habitability of the subsurface of Mars. Occasional discharge events that bring subsurface fluids to the surface may carry with them the biological traces of subsurface organisms. Similar events are known to take place on Earth and are frequently associated with long-term mineralo...

The main idea here is to present reflections on the general aspects that structure the conceptual conception of the field of search for extraterrestrial life. The methodology developed to conceive this article was based both on aspects of historical contexts and on the concatenation of philosophical arguments that could establish a perspective on e...

Capable of forming magnetofossils similar to some magnetite nanocrystals observed in the Martian meteorite ALH84001, magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) once occupied a special position in the field of astrobiology during the 1990s and 2000s. This flourish of interest in putative Martian magnetofossils faded from all but the experts studying magnetosome f...

KEYWORDS plant, extreme environment, astrobiology, deep space exploration, limits of life Editorial on the Research Topic Revisiting the limits of plant life-plant adaptations to extreme terrestrial environments relating to astrobiology and space biology Plants were essential to the early evolution of terrestrial life and colonization of the young...

A Planetary Atmospheric Chamber (PAC) was used to create simulations of interplanetary conditions to test spore survival of three Bacillus spp. exposed to interacting conditions of high-vacuum (VAC), simulated solar heating (HEAT), and simulated solar ultraviolet illumination (UV). Synergism was observed among the experimental factors against all t...

Chaos terrains are geologically young and extensively disrupted surface features of Europa, thought to be an expression of the subsurface ocean interacting with the surface. The most prominent examples of this terrain on Europa are Conamara Chaos, and Thera and Thrace Maculae, all prime targets for the upcoming JUICE and Europa Clipper missions to...

Permafrost is important from an exobiology and climate change perspective. It serves as an analog for extraplanetary exploration, and it threatens to emit globally significant amounts of greenhouse gases as it thaws due to climate change. Viable microbes survive in Earth's permafrost, slowly metabolizing and transforming organic matter through geol...

The question of humanity's origins has long captivated scholars and enthusiasts alike. While terrestrial evolution has provided a prevailing explanation, an intriguing alternative proposition has emerged-the Alien Hypothesis. This research delves into the captivating notion that humans could be extraterrestrial visitors, hailing from distant galaxi...

Since the very first steps of space exploration, fungi have been recorded as contaminants, hitchhikers, or as part of missions' crews and payloads. Because fungi can cause human disease and are highly active decomposers, their presence in a space-linked context has been a source of major concern given their possible detrimental effects on crews and...

The discovery that most of the prokaryotic diversity and biomass on Earth resides in the deep subsurface, calls for an improved definition of habitability, which should consider the existence of dark biospheres in other planets and moons of the Solar System and beyond. The discovery of “interior liquid water worlds” on some ice moons with waterless...

ConspectusContinuing efforts by many research groups have led to the discovery of ∼240 species in the interstellar medium (ISM). Observatory- and laboratory-based astrochemical experiments have led to the discovery of these species, including several complex organic molecules (COMs). Interstellar molecular clouds, consisting of water-rich icy grain...

This book presents a complex picture of the universe and man from historical and contemporary perspectives, including philosophical, theological, and scientific perspectives. It consists of several papers by authors from various fields, and it is divided into three main parts. The first part addresses some interesting questions from the history of...

It is widely accepted that ancient Mars hosted long-lived habitable environments, and that habitable refugia may persist in the subsurface today. The presence and behavior of methane gas in the Martian atmosphere makes a compelling case to study methanogenesis as a potential biosignature under simulated Mars surface or shallow subsurface conditions...

Mineralogical studies constitute one of the main tools to investigate geological processes on Mars. Here, the mineralogy of the ExoMars landing sites Oxia Planum and Mawrth Vallis is analyzed based on multispectral datasets of the CRISM Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, TES Thermal Emission Spectro...

The emergence of oxygenic photosynthesis was a major event in Earth's evolutionary history and was facilitated by chlorophylls (a major category of photopigments). The accurate modelling of photopigments is important to understand the characteristics of putative extraterrestrial life and its spectral signatures (detectable by future telescopes). In...

Nomadic worlds, i.e., objects not gravitationally bound to any star(s), are of great interest to planetary science and astrobiology. They have garnered attention recently due to constraints derived from microlensing surveys and the recent discovery of interstellar planetesimals. In this paper, we roughly estimate the prevalence of nomadic worlds wi...

Spontaneous interactions between nucleotides and lipid membranes are likely to have played a prominent role in the emergence of life on Earth. However, the effect of nucleotides on the physicochemical properties of model protocellular membranes is relatively less understood. To this end, we aimed to discern the effect of canonical nucleotides on th...

Extensive fields of sub-kilometre- to kilometre-scale mounds, cones, domes, shields, and flow-like edifices cover large parts of the martian lowlands. These features have been compared to structures on Earth produced by sedimentary volcanism – a process that involves subsurface sediment/fluid mobilisation and commonly releases methane to the atmosp...

The origin and transport of water in the early Solar System is an important topic in both astrophysics and planetary science, with applications to protosolar disk evolution, planetary formation, and astrobiology. Of particular interest for understanding primordial water transport are the unequilibrated ordinary chondrites (UOCs), which have been af...

One of the most fundamental hypotheses in astrochemistry and astrobiology states that crucial biotic molecules like glycine (NH2CH2COOH) found in meteorites and comets are inherited from early phases of star formation. Most observational searches for glycine in the interstellar medium have focused on warm, high-mass molecular cloud sources. However...

We describe the procedures and results of a geological field analysis campaign in the Río Tinto area. This geologically/biologically well-documented site with its rock/water/biology interaction represents an ideal open-air laboratory where to collect spectral data and samples useful for testing space instruments. During the field campaign, we colle...

The hygroscopic and supercooling properties of perchlorates make them potentially important for sustaining liquid water on Mars. To understand the possibility for supercooled liquids and glasses on Mars and other cold bodies, we have characterized the supercooling and vitrification features using differential scanning calorimetry for Na, Ca, and Mg...

The developing of questions of Outer Space has only been greatly enhanced by the increase of technology and greater involvement by states, private actors and people seeking to use space above the typical uses i.e., satellites. Such an approach has carried on the original views of space delivered by the Apollo programme, which has inspired entrepren...

In this work, a geological sample of great astrobiological interest was studied through analytical techniques that are currently operating in situ on Mars and others that will operate in the near future. The sample analyzed consisted of an oncoid, which is a type of microbialite, collected in the Salar Carachi Pampa, Argentina. The main peculiarity...

Abstract Stromatolites are laminated biosedimentary structures of great importance for paleobiological, paleoecological, and paleoenvironmental analyses, mainly in Precambrian rocks. Their value is related to the glimpse of past life recorded in their lamination, fabric, and, eventually, due to the preservation of organic matter, including microfos...

The Saturnian moon Enceladus presents a unique opportunity to sample the contents of a subsurface liquid water ocean in situ via the continuous plume formed over its south polar terrain using a multi-flyby mission architecture. Previous analyses of the plume’s composition by Cassini revealed an energy-rich system laden with salts and organic compou...

Faults and fractures may emplace fresh material onto Europa's surface, originating from shallow reservoirs within the ice shell or directly from the subsurface ocean. Ménec Fossae is a region of particular interest as it displays the interaction of several geological features, including bands, double ridges, chaotic terrains, and fossae, within a r...

Background At the 2022 meeting of the American Society for Bioethics and Medical Humanities, a new affinity group was formed: astrobioethics. This is the branch of bioethics for space exploration, extraterrestrial environments and possible extraterrestrial organisms. Bioethics has traditionally operated from Western/Global North dominated thought s...

The Hayabusa2 mission was tasked with returning samples from the C-complex asteroid Ryugu (1999 JU3), in order to shed light on the formation, evolution and composition of such asteroids. One of the main science objectives was to understand whether such bodies could have supplied the organic matter required for the origin of life on Earth. Here, a...

Extreme cold environments, such as polar regions or high-altitude mountains, are known for their challenging conditions including low temperatures, high salinity, and limited nutrient availability. Microbes that thrive in these environments have evolved specialized strategies to survive and function under such harsh conditions. The study aims to id...

Introduction Technological advances have made possible long space travels and even exoplanetary colonies in the future. Nevertheless, the success of these activities depends on our ability to produce edible plants in stressful conditions such as high radiation, extreme temperatures and low oxygen levels. Since beneficial microorganisms, such as fun...

Astronomical observations and research inform our understanding of climate changes on Earth and how it affects life. By teaching climate change in a Life in the Universe class as part of comparative planetology and the history of life on Earth, I hope to offer a less politicized perspective than what students have previously seen.

The Routledge Handbook of Social Studies of Outer Space offers state-of-the-art overview of contemporary social and cultural research on outer space. International in scope, the thirty-eight contributions by over fifty leading researchers and artists across a variety of disciplines and fields of knowledge, present a range of debates and pose key qu...

Gloeocapsopsis dulcis strain AAB1 is an extremely xerotolerant cyanobacterium isolated from the Atacama Desert (i.e., the driest and oldest desert on Earth) that holds astrobiological significance due to its surprising ability to biosynthesize compatible solutes at ultra-low water activities. We sequenced and assembled the G. dulcis genome de novo...

Humankind has been curious about the sky and beyond since its existence. Since the most primitive times, we have been trying to find answers to this curiosity. In recent years, a relatively new field of astrobiology has emerged to answers to frequently asked questions. Astrobiology is an interdisciplinary field that tries to explain not only beyond...

Terrestrial serpentinizing systems allow us insight into the realm of alkaliphilic microbial communities driven by geology in a way that is frequently more accessible than their deep subsurface or marine counterparts. However, these systems are also marked by geochemical and microbial community variation due to the interactions of serpentinized flu...

The authors use the mathematical tool of Maccone's lognormal distribution to further factor the Drake equation, which calculates the number of advanced civilizations in the galaxy, from the seven original levels of the Drake equation to 49 levels of overall analysis. The Maccone approach, in fact, supported by the central limit theorem, becomes mor...

Space experiments are a technically challenging but a scientifically important part of astrobiology and astrochemistry research. The International Space Station (ISS) is an excellent example of a highly successful and long-lasting research platform for experiments in space, that has provided a wealth of scientific data over the last two decades. Ho...

Venus is Earth's sister planet, with similar mass and density but an uninhabitably hot surface, an atmosphere with a water activity 50-100 times lower than anywhere on Earths' surface, and clouds believed to be made of concentrated sulfuric acid. These features have been taken to imply that the chances of finding life on Venus are vanishingly small...

Our understanding of the diversity of life on our planet and the possibility of finding or sustaining life elsewhere in the universe plays a central role in supporting human space settlement and exploration. Astrobiology and its outcomes require a multidisciplinary and comprehensive approach, in which the microbial, geological, chemical, astronomic...

Systematic enrichments of l-amino acids in meteorites is a strong indication that biological homochirality originated beyond Earth. Although still unresolved, stellar UV circularly polarized light (CPL) is the leading hypothesis to have caused the symmetry breaking in space. This involves the differential absorption of left- and right-CPL, a phenom...

Is there a right to knowledge about the origins of life and the origins of humanity? Here, I mean knowledge of a sort that astrobiology may be able to supply. And a right of the sort that might be acknowledged within international declarations, agreements, and codes of conduct. A distinguishing feature of the paper is an argument strategy that draw...

Past years have seen various publications attempting to explain the apparent clustering features of trans-Neptunian objects, the most popular explanation being an unconfirmed ‘Planet 9’. The recently proposed Uranus Orbiter and Probe mission by NASA’s Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey could offer the opportunity to precisely determi...

In this essay, we delve into the intriguing realm of the Spiritual Theory of Everything Model (STOEM), a comprehensive theoretical model that proposes an integrated view of the universe encompassing both physical and spiritual dimensions. Exploring this vast theoretical landscape, we examine how STOEM interacts with various disciplines including ph...

More than 20,000 species of prokaryotes (less than 1% of the estimated number of Earth’s microbial species) have been described thus far. However, the vast majority of microbes that inhabit extreme environments remain uncultured and this group is termed “microbial dark matter.” Little is known regarding the ecological functions and biotechnological...

Is it a miracle that life exists on the Earth, or is it a common phenomenon in the universe? If extraterrestrial organisms exist, what are they like? To answer these questions, we must understand what kinds of molecules could evolve into life, or in other words, what properties are generally required to perform biological functions and store geneti...

Previous examinations of astrophysical chemical reaction networks found that Earth's atmospheric network was distinct in its hierarchical organization and scale‐free nature. If Earth's unique atmospheric network structure is due to the coevolution between the biosphere and atmosphere, it may hint at a novel planetary‐scale biosignature. Here, we us...

Recent astrophysical findings suggest that the era during which the Universe is habitable has just begun. This raises the question whether the entire Universe may at some point in the future be filled with intelligent life. Hanson et al . (2021, The Astrophysical Journal 922 , 182) argued that we can be confident that the Universe will, by cosmic s...

Chaos terrains are geologically young and extensively disrupted surface features of Europa, thought to be an expression of the subsurface ocean interacting with the surface. The most prominent examples of this terrain on Europa are Conamara Chaos, and Thera and Thrace Maculae, all prime targets for the upcoming JUICE and Europa Clipper missions to...

Life as we know it constructs protein-based metabolism using one, genetically encoded "alphabet" of 20 amino acids. This alphabet exhibits an unusual physicochemical profile: its 20 constituent members are distributed very evenly over an unusually broad range of volumes and an unusually narrow range of hydrophobicities (relative to an alphabet draw...

Earth’s near space is a region between 20 and 100 km above sea level, which is characterized by low temperature, low atmospheric pressure, harsh radiation, and extreme dryness. These conditions are analogous to the surface of Mars and the atmosphere of Venus, and thus make it a unique natural lab for astrobiologists. To address the important astrob...

RESUMEN En esta contribución describimos el contenido y propósito de un libro sobre Astrobiología escrito por investi-gadoras e investigadores de habla hispana. Este es el primer libro de texto escrito en español cuyo objetivo es fungir como un libro de consulta, estudio y reflexión para estudiantes de bachillerato, licenciatura y posgrado interesa...

Discovering exoplanets and satellites in habitable zones within and beyond our solar system has sparked intrigue in planetary setting varieties that could support life. Based on our understanding of life on Earth, we can shed light on the origin, evolution, and future of Earth-like organisms in the galaxy and predict extinct or extant extrater-rest...

One of the primary goals of the space exploration community is to unambiguously detect past or present life outside of Earth. As such, a number of so-called life detection technologies, instruments, and approaches have been applied as part of past, current, and future space missions. As astrobiology is a truly interdisciplinary field within the rea...

Where is everybody? This phrase distills the foreboding of what has come to be known as the Fermi Paradox - the disquieting idea that, if extraterrestrial life is probable in the Universe, then why have we not encountered it? This conundrum has puzzled scholars for decades, and many hypotheses have been proposed suggesting both naturalistic and soc...

Our understanding of the diversity of life on our planet and the possibility of finding or sustaining life elsewhere in the universe plays a central role in supporting human space settling and exploration. Astrobiology and its outcomes require a multidisciplinary and comprehensive approach, in which the microbial, geological, chemical, astronomical...

Amorphous silica deposits are considered modern analogues to siliceous formations originating on Earth during the Precambrian period, providing useful information for studying the evolution of life on our planet. In the last two decades amorphous silica deposits have been reported from several quartz- rich cave environments in different geologic se...

Extremophiles are one of the most extreme entity on planet earth which can withstand many harsh conditions considered lethal for other life form of terrestrial life. From an evolutionary prospective, extremophiles are considered to be primitive cells that used to live in the early earths harsh environment living on this planet since billions of yea...

Uranus and Neptune, the Ice Giants, are the unique planets in the Solar System that have not received a dedicated mission. However, studying these planets is crucial for understanding the formation and evolution of our planetary system and the outer systems, for which the ice planet systems are very common. Our current knowledge comes from Earth an...