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2011 Annual Science Report

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Icy Worlds Reporting  |  SEP 2010 – AUG 2011

Executive Summary

Our goal in the Astrobiology of the Icy Worlds Investigation is to advance our understanding of the role of ice in the broad context of astrobiology through a combined laboratory, numerical, analytical, and field investigations. Icy Worlds team will pursue this goal through four major investigations namely, the habitability, survivability, and detectability of life of icy worlds coupled with “Path to Flight” Technology demonstrations.

A search for life linked to the search for water should naturally “follow the ice”. Can life emerge and thrive in a cold, lightless world beneath hundreds of kilometers of ice? And if so, do the icy shells hold clues to life in the subsurface? These questions are the primary motivation of our science investigations which are as follows:

  • Habitability of Icy Worlds investigates the habitability of liquid water environments in icy worlds, with a focus on what processes may give ...

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Field Sites
19 Institutions
4 Project Reports
65 Publications
3 Field Sites
Roadmap
Objectives

Project Reports

  • Detectability of Life

    Detectability of Life investigates the detectability of chemical and biological signatures on the surface of icy worlds, with a focus on spectroscopic techniques, and on spectral bands that are not in some way connected to photosynthesis.Detectability of life investigation has three major objectives: Detection of Life in the Laboratory, Detection of Life in the Field, and Detection of Life from Orbit.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.2 2.1 2.2 4.1 5.3 6.1 6.2 7.1 7.2
  • Survivability of Icy Worlds

    Investigation 2 focuses on survivability. As part of our Survivability investigation, we examine the similarities and differences between the abiotic chemistry of planetary ices irradiated with ultraviolet photons (UV), electrons, and ions, and the chemistry of biomolecules exposed to similar conditions. Can the chemical products resulting from these two scenarios be distinguished? Can viable microbes persist after exposure to such conditions? These are motivating questions for our investigation.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.2 3.2 5.1 5.3 7.1 7.2
  • Path to Flight

    Our technology investigation, Path to Flight for astrobiology, utilizes instrumentation built with non-NAI funding to carry out three science investigations namely habitability, survivability and detectability of life. The search for life requires instruments and techniques that can detect biosignatures from orbit and in-situ under harsh conditions. Advancing this capacity is the focus of our Technology Investigation.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 2.1 2.2 3.1 3.2 7.1 7.2
  • Habitability of Icy Worlds

    Habitability of Icy Worlds investigates the habitability of liquid water environments in icy worlds, with a focus on what processes may give rise to life, what processes may sustain life, and what processes may deliver that life to the surface. Habitability of Icy Worlds investigation has three major objectives. Objective 1, Seafloor Processes, explores conditions that might be conducive to originating and supporting life in icy world interiors. Objective 2, Ocean Processes, investigates the formation of prebiotic cell membranes under simulated deep-ocean conditions, and Objective 3, Ice Shell Processes, investigates astrobiological aspects of ice shell evolution.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 2.2 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 4.1 5.1 5.3 6.1 6.2 7.1 7.2

Education & Public Outreach

Publications

  • Barge, L. M., Doloboff, I. J., White, L. M., Stucky, G. D., Russell, M. J., & Kanik, I. (2012). Characterization of Iron–Phosphate–Silicate Chemical Garden Structures. Langmuir, 28(8), 3714–3721. doi:10.1021/la203727g

  • Bhartia, R., Salas, E. C., Hug, W. F., Reid, R. D., Lane, A. L., Edwards, K. J., & Nealson, K. H. (2010). Label-Free Bacterial Imaging with Deep-UV-Laser-Induced Native Fluorescence. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 76(21), 7231–7237. doi:10.1128/aem.00943-10

  • Choukroun, M., & Grasset, O. (2010). Thermodynamic data and modeling of the water and ammonia-water phase diagrams up to 2.2 GPa for planetary geophysics. J. Chem. Phys., 133(14), 144502. doi:10.1063/1.3487520

  • Cooper, P. D. (2012). Oxygen in the Outer Solar System. Journal of Chemical Education, 89(2), 181–182. doi:10.1021/ed200013q

  • Dalton, J. B., Cruikshank, D. P., Stephan, K., McCord, T. B., Coustenis, A., Carlson, R. W., & Coradini, A. (2010). Chemical Composition of Icy Satellite Surfaces. Space Sci Rev, 153(1-4), 113–154. doi:10.1007/s11214-010-9665-8

  • Dalton, J. B., Shirley, J. H., & Kamp, L. W. (2012). Europa’s icy bright plains and dark linea: Exogenic and endogenic contributions to composition and surface properties. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 117(E3), n/a–n/a. doi:10.1029/2011je003909

  • Davies, A. G., Sotin, C., Matson, D. L., Castillo-Rogez, J., Johnson, T. V., Choukroun, M., & Baines, K. H. (2010). Atmospheric control of the cooling rate of impact melts and cryolavas on Titan’s surface. Icarus, 208(2), 887–895. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2010.02.025

  • Fortes, A. D., & Choukroun, M. (2010). Phase Behaviour of Ices and Hydrates. Space Sci Rev, 153(1-4), 185–218. doi:10.1007/s11214-010-9633-3

  • Garozzo, M., Fulvio, D., Kanuchova, Z., Palumbo, M. E., & Strazzulla, G. (2009). The fate of S-bearing species after ion irradiation of interstellar icy grain mantles. A&A, 509, A67. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/200913040

  • Hand, K. P., & Carlson, R. W. (2011). H2O2 production by high-energy electrons on icy satellites as a function of surface temperature and electron flux. Icarus, 215(1), 226–233. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2011.06.031

  • Hand, K. P., & Carlson, R. W. (2012). Laboratory spectroscopic analyses of electron irradiated alkanes and alkenes in solar system ices. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 117(E3), n/a–n/a. doi:10.1029/2011je003888

  • Hand, K. P., Khurana, K. K., & Chyba, C. F. (2011). Joule heating of the south polar terrain on Enceladus. Journal of Geophysical Research, 116(E4), None. doi:10.1029/2010je003776

  • Hodyss, R., Howard, H. R., Johnson, P. V., Goguen, J. D., & Kanik, I. (2011). Formation of radical species in photolyzed CH4:N2 ices. Icarus, 214(2), 748–753. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2011.05.023

  • Ivanov, M. A., Prockter, L. M., & Dalton, B. (2011). Landforms of Europa and selection of landing sites. Advances in Space Research, 48(4), 661–677. doi:10.1016/j.asr.2011.05.016

  • Johnson, P. V., Hodyss, R., Bolser, D. K., Bhartia, R., Lane, A. L., & Kanik, I. (2011). Ultraviolet-Stimulated Fluorescence and Phosphorescence of Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Water Ice. Astrobiology, 11(2), 151–156. doi:10.1089/ast.2010.0568

  • Johnson, P. V., Hodyss, R., Chernow, V. F., Lipscomb, D. M., & Goguen, J. D. (2012). Ultraviolet photolysis of amino acids on the surface of icy Solar System bodies. Icarus, 221(2), 800–805. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2012.09.005

  • Korablev, O., Gerasimov, M., Brad Dalton, J., Hand, K., Lebreton, J-P., & Webster, C. (2011). Methods and measurements to assess physical and geochemical conditions at the surface of Europa. Advances in Space Research, 48(4), 702–717. doi:10.1016/j.asr.2010.12.010

  • Lorenz, R., & Sotin, C. (2010). The Moon That Would Be a Planet. Scientific American, 302(3), 36–43. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0310-36

  • McGlynn, S. E., Kanik, I., & Russell, M. J. (2012). Peptide and RNA contributions to iron-sulphur chemical gardens as life’s first inorganic compartments, catalysts, capacitors and condensers. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 370(1969), 3007–3022. doi:10.1098/rsta.2011.0211

  • Mielke, R. E., Robinson, K. J., White, L. M., McGlynn, S. E., McEachern, K., Bhartia, R., … Russell, M. J. (2011). Iron-Sulfide-Bearing Chimneys as Potential Catalytic Energy Traps at Life’s Emergence. Astrobiology, 11(10), 933–950. doi:10.1089/ast.2011.0667

  • Modica, P., & Palumbo, M. E. (2010). Formation of methyl formate after cosmic ion irradiation of icy grain mantles. A&A, 519, A22. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201014101

  • Nitschke, W., & Russell, M. J. (2011). Redox bifurcations: Mechanisms and importance to life now, and at its origin. BioEssays, 34(2), 106–109. doi:10.1002/bies.201100134

  • Orzechowska, G. E., Kidd, R. D., Foing, B. H., Kanik, I., Stoker, C., & Ehrenfreund, P. (2011). Analysis of Mars analogue soil samples using solid-phase microextraction, organic solvent extraction and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. International Journal of Astrobiology, 10(03), 209–219. doi:10.1017/s1473550410000443

  • Palumbo, M. E., Baratta, G. A., Leto, G., & Strazzulla, G. (2010). H bonds in astrophysical ices. Journal of Molecular Structure, 972(1-3), 64–67. doi:10.1016/j.molstruc.2009.12.017

  • Pearce, M. P., Bussemaker, M. J., Cooper, P. D., Lapere, K. M., Wild, D. A., & McKinley, A. J. (2012). Formation of methanol from methane and water in an electrical discharge. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 14(10), 3444. doi:10.1039/c2cp22135g

  • Robuchon, G., Choblet, G., Tobie, G., Čadek, O., Sotin, C., & Grasset, O. (2010). Coupling of thermal evolution and despinning of early Iapetus. Icarus, 207(2), 959–971. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2009.12.002

  • Shirley, J. H., Dalton, J. B., Prockter, L. M., & Kamp, L. W. (2010). Europa’s ridged plains and smooth low albedo plains: Distinctive compositions and compositional gradients at the leading side–trailing side boundary. Icarus, 210(1), 358–384. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2010.06.018

  • Simoncini, E., Russell, M. J., & Kleidon, A. (2011). Modeling Free Energy Availability from Hadean Hydrothermal Systems to the First Metabolism. Orig Life Evol Biosph, 41(6), 529–532. doi:10.1007/s11084-011-9251-4

  • Sohl, F., Choukroun, M., Kargel, J., Kimura, J., Pappalardo, R., Vance, S., & Zolotov, M. (2010). Subsurface Water Oceans on Icy Satellites: Chemical Composition and Exchange Processes. Space Sci Rev, 153(1-4), 485–510. doi:10.1007/s11214-010-9646-y

  • Sokol, E., Noll, R. J., Cooks, R. G., Beegle, L. W., Kim, H. I., & Kanik, I. (2011). Miniature mass spectrometer equipped with electrospray and desorption electrospray ionization for direct analysis of organics from solids and solutions. International Journal of Mass Spectrometry, 306(2-3), 187–195. doi:10.1016/j.ijms.2010.10.019

  • Tsou, P., Brownlee, D. E., McKay, C. P., Anbar, A. D., Yano, H., Altwegg, K., … Kanik, I. (2012). LIFE: Life Investigation For Enceladus A Sample Return Mission Concept in Search for Evidence of Life. Astrobiology, 12(8), 730–742. doi:10.1089/ast.2011.0813

  • Wolfe-Simon, F., Blum, J. S., Kulp, T. R., Gordon, G. W., Hoeft, S. E., Pett-Ridge, J., … Oremland, R. S. (2010). A Bacterium That Can Grow by Using Arsenic Instead of Phosphorus. Science, 332(6034), 1163–1166. doi:10.1126/science.1197258

  • (2011).  Astrobiology of Icy Worlds: Photochemistry of Planetary Ices.  Physics Colloquium (MH 606).  California State University, Fullerton, California.
  • Adams, H.E. & Priscu, J.C.  (2011).  Bacterial activity in methane-rich, icy habitats.  American Society for Limnology and Oceanography, Aquatic Sciences Meeting.  San Juan, Puerto Rico.
  • Adams, H.E. & Priscu, J.C.  (2011, In Preparation).  Methane oxidation in icy habitats.
  • Adams, H.E., Hand, K.P., Murray, A.E., Lyons, B. & Priscu, J.C.  (In Preparation).  Distribution of bacterial communities, activity, and carbon sources in Alaskan coastal plain lakes.
  • Beegle, L.W., Kim, H.I., Kanik, I. & Ryu, E.K.  (2011).  NASA Tech Briefs “Improved Ambient Pressure Pyroelectric Ion Source”.
  • Choukroun, M., Kieffer, S.W. & Lu X., T.G.  (In Press).  Clathrate hydrates: Implications for Exchange Processes in the outer Solar System [Book Chapter].  Solar System Ices.
  • Cooper, P.D., Do, N., Strube, A. & Ammann, L.M.  (2010).  Oxidant Loading of Icy Satellite Surfaces by Re-deposition and Subsequent Surface Chemistry.  DPS.  Pasadena CA.
  • Dalton, I.J.B., Shirley, J.H., Cassidy, T., Paranicas, C.J. & Kamp, L.W.  (2011b).  Surface effects of endogenic and exogenic processes on Europa.  EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting, 6(649).
  • Dalton, J.B., Prockter, L.M. & Ivanov, M.A.  (2011c).  Surface materials on Europa: Considerations for Landing Site Selection.  Proc. 2nd Moscow Solar System Symposium (2M-S3).  Moscow.
  • Dalton, J.B., Shirley, J.H. & Prockter, L.M.  (2010).  Surface geology of Europa: A window to subsurface composition and habitability.  Geophysical Research Abstracts, 12.
  • Do, N., Strube, A., Ammann, L.M. & Cooper, P.D.  (2011, Submitted).  A Laboratory Investigation of the Chemistry of Resurfacing on Icy Bodies.  Ap. J.
  • Duong, T.A. & Kanik, I.  (2011).  DIFFERENTIAL MOBILITY SPECTROMETER WITH SPATIAL ION DETECTOR AND METHODS RELATED THERETO [Patent].  DIFFERENTIAL MOBILITY SPECTROMETER WITH SPATIAL ION DETECTOR AND METHODS RELATED THERETO.
  • Eiceman, G.A., Coy, S., Mielke, R. & Kanik, I.  (2011, In Preparation).  Detection of Organic Compounds with a Field Portable Membrane Introduction Differential Mobility Spectrometer System.
  • Gleeson, D.F., Amashukeli, X. & Pappalardo, R.T.  An investigation into biologically mediated sulfur cycling under simulated Europa ocean conditions.
  • Hand, K.P. & Painter, T.H.  (2010).  Fall AGU Mtg.
  • Hand, K.P.  (2011).  On the Coming Age of Ocean Exploration.  In: Brockman, M. (Eds.).  Future Science.
  • Hand, K.P.  Outer planet satellites as potential crucibles for life: extraterrestrial and terrestrial.  UN meeting.
  • Hodyss, R.  (2011).  New Horizon Workshop on Icy Surface Processes.  Flagstaff Arizona.
  • Hodyss, R., Howard, H.R., Johnson, P.V., Goguen, J.D. & Kanik, I.  (To Be Submitted).  Atomic Carbon Chemistry in Photolyzed Triton-Like Ices.  Icarus.
  • Hodyss, R., Kim, H.I., Bolser, D.K., Johnson, P.V., Goguen, J.D. & Kanik, I.  (To Be Sbmitted).  Ultraviolet Photolysis of Lipids.  Icarus.
  • Hussmann, H., Choblet, G., Lainey, V., Matson, D., Sotin, C., Tobie & Van Hoolst, T.  (2010).  Internal Processes: Energy Sources and Heat Transport in Icy Satellites.  In: Grasset et al. (Eds.).  Internal Processes: Energy Sources and Heat Transport in Icy Satellites.
  • Johnson, P.  (2010).  Atomic Carbon Chemistry in Photolyzed Triton-like Ices.  2010 Fall AGU Meeting.  San Francisco, CA.
  • Johnson, P.V., Hodyss, R., Howard, H.R., Goguen, J.D. & Kanik, I.  (2010).  Atomic Carbon Chemistry in Photolyzed Triton-like Ices.  42nd annual meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society.  Pasadena, CA.
  • Milner-White, E.J. & Russell, M.J.  (2011).  , A peptide era heralding the emergence of life.  Genes, 2: 671-688.
  • Pearce, M., McKinley, A.J. & Cooper, P.D.  (In Preparation).  Formation of Methanol in Argon Matrices.  Chem. Phys. Phys. Chem.
  • Russell, M.J.  (2011).  Origins, Abiogenesis and the search for Life.  Cambridge: Cosmology Science.
  • Russell, M.J.  (2011).  The origin of life.  Encyclopaedia of Geobiology.  Netherlands: Reitner, J and Thiel, V. Singer.
  • Schoepp-Cothenet, B., v.L., R., P., P., M., A., R-W. & Russell, M.J.  (2011).  A peptide era heralding the emergence of life.  Genes, 2: 671-688.
  • Schubert, G., Hussmann, H., Lainey, V., Matson, D., McKinnon, W., Sohl, F., Sotin, C., Tobie, G., Turrini, D. & Van Hoolst, T.  Evolution of the Moons; Europlanet.  Icy Satellites.
  • Soparawalla, S., Duncan, J.S., Ouyang, Z., Beegle, L.W., Fisher, A.M., Kanik, I. & Cooks, G.R.  (2012).  In Situ Analysis of Organics with a Portable Mass Spectrometer.  Engineering in Extreme Environment, Earth and Space 2012 Conference.  Pasadena CA.
  • Soparawalla, S., Duncan, J.S., Ouyang, Z., Beegle, L.W., Fisher, A.M., Kanik, I. & Cooks, G.R.  In Situ Analysis of Organics with a Portable Mass Spectrometer. To be presented at ASCE, Engineering in Extreme Environment.
  • StrazStrazzulla, G.  Ion Bombardment of astrophysical iceszulla, G. Ion Bombardment of astrophysical ices.  24th International Conference on atomic collision in solids.  Cracow, Poland.
  • Tsou, P., Brownlee, D.E., McKay, C.P., Yano, H., Strange, N., Beegle, L.W., Dissley, R. & Kanik, I.  (2011).  LIFE: Life Investigation For Enceladus, A Sample Return Mission Concept in Search for Evidence of Life.  AGU Fall meeting.  San Francisco, CA.

2011 Teams