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Neveu M, Quinn R, Barge LM, Craft KL, German CR, Getty S, Glein C, Parra M, Burton AS, Cary F, Corpolongo A, Fifer L, Gangidine A, Gentry D, Georgiou CD, Haddadin Z, Herbold C, Inaba A, Jordan SF, Kalucha H, Klier P, Knicely K, Li AY, McNally P, Millan M, Naz N, Raj CG, Schroedl P, Timm J, Yang Z. Future of the Search for Life: Workshop Report. Astrobiology 2024; 24:114-129. [PMID: 38227837 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2022.0158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/18/2024]
Abstract
The 2-week, virtual Future of the Search for Life science and engineering workshop brought together more than 100 scientists, engineers, and technologists in March and April 2022 to provide their expert opinion on the interconnections between life-detection science and technology. Participants identified the advances in measurement and sampling technologies they believed to be necessary to perform in situ searches for life elsewhere in our Solar System, 20 years or more in the future. Among suggested measurements for these searches, those pertaining to three potential indicators of life termed "dynamic disequilibrium," "catalysis," and "informational polymers" were identified as particularly promising avenues for further exploration. For these three indicators, small breakout groups of participants identified measurement needs and knowledge gaps, along with corresponding constraints on sample handling (acquisition and processing) approaches for a variety of environments on Enceladus, Europa, Mars, and Titan. Despite the diversity of these environments, sample processing approaches all tend to be more complex than those that have been implemented on missions or envisioned for mission concepts to date. The approaches considered by workshop breakout groups progress from nondestructive to destructive measurement techniques, and most involve the need for fluid (especially liquid) sample processing. Sample processing needs were identified as technology gaps. These gaps include technology and associated sampling strategies that allow the preservation of the thermal, mechanical, and chemical integrity of the samples upon acquisition; and to optimize the sample information obtained by operating suites of instruments on common samples. Crucially, the interplay between science-driven life-detection strategies and their technological implementation highlights the need for an unprecedented level of payload integration and extensive collaboration between scientists and engineers, starting from concept formulation through mission deployment of life-detection instruments and sample processing systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc Neveu
- Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
| | - Richard Quinn
- NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, USA
| | - Laura M Barge
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
| | - Kathleen L Craft
- Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, Maryland, USA
| | | | | | | | - Macarena Parra
- NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, USA
| | | | - Francesca Cary
- Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai'i, Mānoa, Hawaii, USA
| | - Andrea Corpolongo
- Department of Geosciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - Lucas Fifer
- Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Andrew Gangidine
- Office of Development, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Diana Gentry
- NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, USA
| | | | - Zaid Haddadin
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, San Diego, California, USA
| | - Craig Herbold
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
| | - Aila Inaba
- Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
| | - Seán F Jordan
- School of Chemical Sciences, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Hemani Kalucha
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
| | - Pavel Klier
- NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, USA
- NASA Postdoctoral Program, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA
| | - Kas Knicely
- Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA
| | - An Y Li
- Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Patrick McNally
- Space Physics Research Laboratory, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| | - Maëva Millan
- Laboratory Atmosphere and Space Observations, Guyancourt, France
| | - Neveda Naz
- Department of Chemistry, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Chinmayee Govinda Raj
- School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Peter Schroedl
- Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Jennifer Timm
- Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
| | - Ziming Yang
- Department of Chemistry, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA
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Glass B, Bergman D, Parro V, Kobayashi L, Stoker C, Quinn R, Davila A, Willis P, Brinckerhoff W, Warren-Rhodes K, Wilhelm M, Caceres L, DiRuggiero J, Zacny K, Moreno-Paz M, Dave A, Seitz S, Grubisic A, Castillo M, Bonaccorsi R. The Atacama Rover Astrobiology Drilling Studies (ARADS) Project. Astrobiology 2023; 23:1245-1258. [PMID: 38054949 PMCID: PMC10750311 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2022.0126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2022] [Accepted: 09/01/2023] [Indexed: 12/07/2023]
Abstract
With advances in commercial space launch capabilities and reduced costs to orbit, humans may arrive on Mars within a decade. Both to preserve any signs of past (and extant) martian life and to protect the health of human crews (and Earth's biosphere), it will be necessary to assess the risk of cross-contamination on the surface, in blown dust, and into the near-subsurface (where exploration and resource-harvesting can be reasonably anticipated). Thus, evaluating for the presence of life and biosignatures may become a critical-path Mars exploration precursor in the not-so-far future, circa 2030. This Special Collection of papers from the Atacama Rover Astrobiology Drilling Studies (ARADS) project describes many of the scientific, technological, and operational issues associated with searching for and identifying biosignatures in an extreme hyperarid region in Chile's Atacama Desert, a well-studied terrestrial Mars analog environment. This paper provides an overview of the ARADS project and discusses in context the five other papers in the ARADS Special Collection, as well as prior ARADS project results.
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Affiliation(s)
- B. Glass
- NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, USA
| | - D. Bergman
- Honeybee Robotics, Pasadena, California, USA
| | - V. Parro
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, Torrejon de Ardoz, Spain
| | - L. Kobayashi
- NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, USA
| | - C. Stoker
- NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, USA
| | - R. Quinn
- NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, USA
| | - A. Davila
- NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, USA
| | - P. Willis
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, USA
| | | | - K. Warren-Rhodes
- NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, USA
- SETI Institute, Carl Sagan Center, Mountain View, California, USA
| | - M.B. Wilhelm
- NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, USA
| | - L. Caceres
- University of Antofagasta, Antofagasta, Chile
| | | | - K. Zacny
- Honeybee Robotics, Pasadena, California, USA
| | - M. Moreno-Paz
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, Torrejon de Ardoz, Spain
| | - A. Dave
- NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, USA
| | - S. Seitz
- NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, USA
| | - A. Grubisic
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
| | - M. Castillo
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
| | - R. Bonaccorsi
- NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, USA
- SETI Institute, Carl Sagan Center, Mountain View, California, USA
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Onstott T, Ehlmann B, Sapers H, Coleman M, Ivarsson M, Marlow J, Neubeck A, Niles P. Paleo-Rock-Hosted Life on Earth and the Search on Mars: A Review and Strategy for Exploration. Astrobiology 2019; 19:1230-1262. [PMID: 31237436 PMCID: PMC6786346 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2018.1960] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2018] [Accepted: 04/25/2019] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
Here we review published studies on the abundance and diversity of terrestrial rock-hosted life, the environments it inhabits, the evolution of its metabolisms, and its fossil biomarkers to provide guidance in the search for life on Mars. Key findings are (1) much terrestrial deep subsurface metabolic activity relies on abiotic energy-yielding fluxes and in situ abiotic and biotic recycling of metabolic waste products rather than on buried organic products of photosynthesis; (2) subsurface microbial cell concentrations are highest at interfaces with pronounced chemical redox gradients or permeability variations and do not correlate with bulk host rock organic carbon; (3) metabolic pathways for chemolithoautotrophic microorganisms evolved earlier in Earth's history than those of surface-dwelling phototrophic microorganisms; (4) the emergence of the former occurred at a time when Mars was habitable, whereas the emergence of the latter occurred at a time when the martian surface was not continually habitable; (5) the terrestrial rock record has biomarkers of subsurface life at least back hundreds of millions of years and likely to 3.45 Ga with several examples of excellent preservation in rock types that are quite different from those preserving the photosphere-supported biosphere. These findings suggest that rock-hosted life would have been more likely to emerge and be preserved in a martian context. Consequently, we outline a Mars exploration strategy that targets subsurface life and scales spatially, focusing initially on identifying rocks with evidence for groundwater flow and low-temperature mineralization, then identifying redox and permeability interfaces preserved within rock outcrops, and finally focusing on finding minerals associated with redox reactions and associated traces of carbon and diagnostic chemical and isotopic biosignatures. Using this strategy on Earth yields ancient rock-hosted life, preserved in the fossil record and confirmable via a suite of morphologic, organic, mineralogical, and isotopic fingerprints at micrometer scale. We expect an emphasis on rock-hosted life and this scale-dependent strategy to be crucial in the search for life on Mars.
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Affiliation(s)
- T.C. Onstott
- Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
- Address correspondence to: T.C. Onstott, Department of Geosciences, Princeton University,, Princeton, NJ 008544
| | - B.L. Ehlmann
- Division of Geological & Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
- B.L. Ehlmann, Division of Geological & Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125
| | - H. Sapers
- Division of Geological & Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - M. Coleman
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
- NASA Astrobiology Institute, Pasadena, California, USA
| | - M. Ivarsson
- Department of Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
| | - J.J. Marlow
- Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - A. Neubeck
- Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - P. Niles
- Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, USA
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