"For a planet to have breathable air, wouldn’t have to have abundant plant life?"
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Mars Research in Polar Bear Country
New from the Nordic issue of Astrobiology Magazine, European Edition: An interview with Hans Amundsen, the expedition leader of AMASE (Arctic Mars Analog Svalbard Expedition). AMASE scientists travel to a group of islands in the High Arctic in order to conduct Mars-related field research.
September 3, 2008 / Posted by: Shige Abe
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Iron Isotope Record Reflects Microbial Metabolism Through Time
NAI’s University of Wisconsin team presents a review of iron isotope fingerprints created through biogeochemical cycling in the May, 2008 issue of Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. This landmark paper brings together for the first time the co-evolution records of photosynthesis, bacterial sulfate reduction, and bacterial iron reduction in the early Earth. They review data on natural systems and experiments, looking at both abiological and biological processes, and conclude that the temporal carbon, sulfur,...
August 27, 2008 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice
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Silicate Mineralogy on Mars Indicates Wet Past
Using data from the CRISM instrument on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, astrobiologists from NAI’s SETI Institute and Marine Biological Laboratory teams present findings of silicate mineralogy indicating a wide range of past aqueous activity in the Mawrth Vallis on Mars. This work, published in the August 8 issue of Science, suggests that abundant water was once present on Mars and that hydrothermal activity may have occurred. The...
August 27, 2008 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice
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Jack Hills Zircons: New Information About Earth's Earliest Crust
Members of NAI’s University of Wisconsin, Madison team have a new paper in Earth and Planetary Science Letters presenting their analyses of 4.35 – 3.36 billion year old detrital zircons from the Jack Hills, Western Australia. Their data reveal relatively high lithium abundances compared to other zircons, as well as lithium isotope ratios that are similar to continental crust weathering products rather than ocean floor basalts. The results support the hypothesis that continental-type crust and oceans existed...
August 27, 2008 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice
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ASTID Funds 15 New Projects
The Astrobiology Science and Technology Instrument Development (ASTID) Program this summer approved 15 proposals for funding, including mission concept studies and concept studies for small payloads and satellites.
The new projects were selected out of 97 proposals submitted in response to the NASA Science Mission Directorate’s 2007 Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) solicitation. The new projects range from instruments for astrobiology investigations on future planetary exploration missions to a prototype artificial-gravity platform for small...
August 26, 2008 / Posted by: Shige Abe
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Liquid Water in the Martian North? Maybe.
Perchlorate. Never heard of it? Join the club. But NASA’s Phoenix spacecraft has found it in the soil in the icy northern plains of Mars. And now that it’s been found, scientists are scrambling to explain how it got there, and what, if anything, its presence means about the habitability of the martian north.
Phoenix didn’t go to Mars to find perchlorate. It went looking for evidence of liquid...
August 22, 2008 / Written by: Henry Bortman
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Astrobiology Rap
If you haven’t already, check out the new European Edition of the Astrobiology Magazine. Among all the interesting articles is a link to perhaps the first ever music video about Astrobiology!
August 20, 2008 / Posted by: Shige Abe
Astrobiology Field Work
Rollover map to explore Astrobiology field sites around the world.
