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Project Reports

• Adaptation to Salinity in Microbial Communities

  The potential relevance of evaporative lakes as analogs for the late stage hydrosphere of Mars (see results of Manga and collaborators in the UC Berkeley team) is well established (e.g., Benison and Laclair 2003, Astrobiology v.3).

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1 3.2 4.1 5.3 7.2

• Biological Potential of Mars

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1

• Project 1. From Molecular Clouds to Habitable Planetary Systems

  Building on results described in last year’s report, Co-investigator John Chambers’s work this year has focused on models for the growth of planets in the presence of planetary migration. Inward migration of planetary orbits is widely believed to be an important process, but it is neglected in most studies of planet formation due to doubts about whether planets would survive.

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 2.1 3.1 7.2

• Biosignatures in Chemosynthetic and Photosynthetic Systems

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1 4.1 5.1 5.2 6.1 7.1 7.2

• Planetary Biology, Evolution, and Intelligence

  The results of a two and a half day workshop on the topic of the Habitability of Planets Orbiting M Stars was published recently. Thirty scientists from nineteen institutions in the US and UK participated. Thirteen of the participants were from six other NAI Teams

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 2.1 2.2 3.1 3.2 4.1 4.2 5.1 5.2 5.3 6.1 6.2 7.1 7.2

• Climate, Habitability, and the Atmosphere on Early Mars

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.2 2.1 2.2 3.1 7.1

• Construction of a Borehole Apparatus for Sampling of Fluids and Microbes in Sub-Permafrost Groundwater, Nunavut Territory, Canada

  As part of the Indiana-Princeton-Tennessee Astrobiology Initiative, investigating physical and chemical limitations of life on earth with potential application for life-detecting strategies on Mars, Barry Freifeld at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab designed and constructed a borehole sampling device intended for installation at the High Lake project site (67°22’N, 110°50’W). This device will allow for long-term sampling of geofluids (gas and water) and microbes in an extreme groundwater environment.

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1 2.2 5.1 5.2 5.3

• Project 2. Extraterrestrial Materials: Origin and Evolution of Organic Matter and Water in the Solar System

   

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 3.1

• Evolution of Atmospheric O2, Climate, and Biosphere (Ohmoto)

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 4.1 4.3 5.1 5.2 6.1 7.1

• Examination of the Microbial Diversity Found in Ice Cores (Brenchley)

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1 5.1 5.2 5.3 6.1 6.2 7.1

• Drilling a Borehole for Sampling of Gases, Water, and Microbes in Sub-Permafrost Groundwater at High Lake, Nunavut Territory, Canada

   

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1 2.2 5.1 5.2 5.3 6.1 6.2

• Habitable Planets

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 2.1 4.1 4.3

• Earthbound Microbial and Geological Robotic Based Observations for Mars

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1 2.2 5.1 5.3

• Evolution of the Interior and Its Consequences for Water on Mars

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1

• Breakdown of Methane Due to Electric Discharge: A Laboratory Investigation With Relevance to Mars

  The search for methane in the Martian atmosscaldwell@arc.nasa.govphere has been implemented from Mars orbit (Formisano et al. 2004) as well as with Earth-based telescopes (Krasnopolsky et al. 2004; Mumma et al. 2004).

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1

• Evolution of Abiotic Environments to Ecosystems

  Field work in 2006-2007 included trips to the high Arctic and to the Precambrian Canadian Shield. Study sites were selected on the basis of temperature and contrasting levels of hydrogen. Study sites included environments impacted by permafrost and environments at latitudes south of persistent permafrost. The level of free hydrogen gas is temperature-dependent and appears to be an important controlling factor on microbial processes.

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1 2.2 3.1 3.2 3.3 5.1 5.2 5.3 6.1 6.2 7.1 7.2

• Project 6. Molecular and Isotopic Biosignatures

  Differences in carbon isotope ratios of co-occurring dolomite, carbonate fluorapatite, and organic matter in Paleoproterozoic stromatolitic phosphorites from the Aravalli Supergroup, India, suggest elevated primary productivity during sedimentation. Postdoctoral Fellow Dominic Papineau’s research provides a basis for the examination of other Paleoproterozoic phosphorites and a contribution to the identification of biosignatures in phosphatic sediments.

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1 3.1 4.1 4.2 5.3 6.1 6.2 7.1 7.2

• Experimental Study of Radiolytic Oxidation of Pyrite as a Source of Sulfate and Hydrogen to Sustain Microbial Metabolism

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1 2.2 3.1 3.3 5.3 6.1 6.2

• History and Evolution of Surface Water on Mars

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 2.2

• Project 7. Astrobiotechnology

  Co-Investigator Andrew Steele and colleagues have continued to develop the Modular Assays for Solar System Exploration (MASSE) concept, which uses microfluidic technology to incubate a DNA or protein microarray. This year has been a milestone in the use of this technology in space with involvement in two missions, one to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the STS 116 shuttle launch, the other a Biopan low earth orbit exposure mission that will launch in September.

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1 2.2 3.1 3.2 4.2 5.3 6.2 7.1

• Hydrology and Microbiology of Active Springs

  Sulfur springs have traditionally provided an excellent framework within which to study microbial communities in the contexts of their geochemical environments. We have investigated a sulfur spring network that has multiple discharge sites along a fault, focusing on two sites (MS4 and MS11) that were chosen based on flow rate, chemistry, and the presence of eye-visible white biofilms.

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1 5.2 5.3 7.2

• Saline Lakes and Gypsum Dunes in the Rio Grande Rift System as Analogues for Sulfate Deposits on Mars

  Sulfates appear to be a significant part of rocks and regolith exposed at or near the surface of Mars. Important occurrences of sulfate minerals have been detected at latitudes extending from the polar region to lower latitudes in Meridiani Planum and Vallis Marineris. We are pursuing, therefore, a latitudinal study of Salt Basins developed along the Rio Grande Rift as a terrestrial analog to sulfate deposition in the past on Mars.

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1 2.2 7.1 7.2

• Iron and Sulfur-Based Biospheres and Their Biosignatures

  This collaborative project involves many members of the UC Berkeley-led NAI team as well as members of other teams and institutions internationally.

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1 4.1 5.1 5.2 5.3 7.2

• Simulating Preservation of Amino Acids and Peptides in Evaporitic Sulfate Deposits on the Surface of Mars

  In anticipation of human exploration, analytical strategies are urgently needed to characterize organic molecules in chemical and clastic deposits inferred to be present on or near the surface of Mars.

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1 2.2 6.1 6.2 7.1

• FMARS Long Duration Mission: A Simulation of Manned Mars Exploration in an Analogue Environment, Devon Island, Canada

  The FMARS Long Duration Mission (FXI-LDM) is an unprecedented Mars exploration simulation in the Mars analogue environment of the Canadian High Arctic. Six crewmembers spent four months under strict simulation conditions (limited water use, constrained diet, high-latency communications, no outside activity without simulated life-support equipment, etc.) conducting field research in and around Haughton Crater, a 39 million year old impact structure.

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1 4.3 5.3

• Laser Mass Spectrometry for Planetary Analog and in Situ Chemical Analyses

  Work on laser time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF-MS) techniques continues at JHU/APL in collaboration with the Goddard Center for Astrobiology (GCA) team and external partners.

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1 2.2 3.1 3.2 7.1

• Stability of Methane Hydrates in the Presence of High Salinity Brines on Mars

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1 2.2 3.1 7.1 7.2

• The Impact of Atmospheric Particles on Life

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 2.2 4.3

• Survival Capability of a Cold-Loving Microbe in a Mars Simulation Chamber

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1 2.2 5.1 5.2 5.3 7.1

• Origin and Evolution of Organics in Planetary Systems

  As part of the overall Astrobiology Node at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, whose goal is an understanding of the Origin and Evolution of Organics in Planetary Systems (Mike Mumma, P. I.), Co-Investigator Blake is directing both laboratory and astronomical spectroscopy programs.

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 3.1

• Search for Biomarker Gases on Mars

  Our team is engaged in a search for local sources of methane, water, and other biomarker gases on Mars, and for associated chemical species, using astronomical remote sensing techniques. We acquire simultaneous maps of atmospheric gases in the key infrared spectral region (wavelengths 3.0 – 3.8 μm) where aliphatic and aromatic organic gases have strong vibrational bands.

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1 5.3 6.2 7.1

• Summary of Activities in the Astrobiology Analytical Laboratory

  Dworkin and collaborators have been active in the lab section of the GCA Astrobiology Team by operating the Astrobiology Analytical Laboratory and collaborating with numerous other laboratories. This involves the creation and maintenance of a world-class organic analytical laboratory. His lab was largely created with GCA funds, and Dworkin leveraged them by obtaining internal GSFC funds sufficient to double its space and equipment.

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 2.2 3.1 7.1

• Ice in Sublimation Environments

  Permanent ground ice can exist indefinitely beneath a dry surface that has no frost, not even seasonally.

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1

• Martian Slope Streaks

  Slope streaks are gravity driven mass movements that actively form in the dust covered regions of Mars today. They have received renewed attention from astrobiology, because of the recent discovery of terrestrial analogs in the Dry Valleys on Antarctica, where slope streaks are caused by melting of seasonal frost patches.

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1

• TES Study of Intracrater Low Albedo Deposits, Amazonis Planitia, Mars

  We examined TES spectra that overlap the low albedo deposits of Amazonis Planitia craters; data were selected to have low albedo, high signal-to-noise ratio and overall data quality. Of the 23 Amazonis Planitia craters examined, we found satisfactory TES spectra for eleven of the low albedo intracrater features (Fig. 1).

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1

• THEMIS Thermal Inertia Study of Sulfates Identified in Valles Marineris, Mars

  Sulfates have been identified in the Valles Marineris of Mars by various instruments, including CRISM, OMEGA, TES and THEMIS. Sulfates are a group of minerals formed through evaporation of water on or near the surface and are thus important recorders of water-related process, and potentially biological activity, on Mars.

  ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1