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2014 Annual Science Report

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Icy Worlds Reporting  |  SEP 2013 – DEC 2014

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 ... Continue reading.

Field Sites
3 Institutions
1 Project Reports
12 Publications
0 Field Sites
Roadmap
Objectives

Project Reports

  • Astrobiology of Icy Worlds

    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 pursues 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

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 2.2 3.1 3.2 4.1 5.1 5.2 5.3 6.2 7.1

Education & Public Outreach

Publications

  • Barge, L. M., Doloboff, I. J., Russell, M. J., VanderVelde, D., White, L. M., Stucky, G. D., … Kanik, I. (2014). Pyrophosphate synthesis in iron mineral films and membranes simulating prebiotic submarine hydrothermal precipitates. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 128, 1–12. doi:10.1016/j.gca.2013.12.006

  • Barge, L. M., Kee, T. P., Doloboff, I. J., Hampton, J. M. P., Ismail, M., Pourkashanian, M., … Kanik, I. (2014). The Fuel Cell Model of Abiogenesis: A New Approach to Origin-of-Life Simulations. Astrobiology, 14(3), 254–270. doi:10.1089/ast.2014.1140

  • Ducluzeau, A-L., Schoepp-Cothenet, B., Van Lis, R., Baymann, F., Russell, M. J., & Nitschke, W. (2014). The evolution of respiratory O2/NO reductases: an out-of-the-phylogenetic-box perspective. Journal of The Royal Society Interface, 11(98), 20140196–20140196. doi:10.1098/rsif.2014.0196

  • McKay, C. P., Anbar, A. D., Porco, C., & Tsou, P. (2014). Follow the Plume: The Habitability of Enceladus. Astrobiology, 14(4), 352–355. doi:10.1089/ast.2014.1158

  • Noell, A. C., Ely, T., Bolser, D. K., Darrach, H., Hodyss, R., Johnson, P. V., … Ponce, A. (2015). Spectroscopy and Viability of Bacillus subtilis Spores after Ultraviolet Irradiation: Implications for the Detection of Potential Bacterial Life on Europa. Astrobiology, 15(1), 20–31. doi:10.1089/ast.2014.1169

  • Paranicas, C., Roussos, E., Decker, R. B., Johnson, R. E., Hendrix, A. R., Schenk, P., … Mitchell, D. G. (2014). The lens feature on the inner saturnian satellites. Icarus, 234, 155–161. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2014.02.026

  • Pitman, K. M., Noe Dobrea, E. Z., Jamieson, C. S., Dalton, J. B., Abbey, W. J., & Joseph, E. C. S. (2014). Reflectance spectroscopy and optical functions for hydrated Fe-sulfates. American Mineralogist, 99(8-9), 1593–1603. doi:10.2138/am.2014.4730

  • Ricker, G. R., Winn, J. N., Vanderspek, R., Latham, D. W., Bakos, G. Á., Bean, J. L., … Villasenor, J. (2014). Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave. doi:10.1117/12.2063489

  • Romero-Wolf, A., Vance, S., Maiwald, F., Heggy, E., Ries, P., & Liewer, K. (2015). A passive probe for subsurface oceans and liquid water in Jupiter’s icy moons. Icarus, 248, 463–477. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2014.10.043

  • Russell, M. J., Barge, L. M., Bhartia, R., Bocanegra, D., Bracher, P. J., Branscomb, E., … Kanik, I. (2014). The Drive to Life on Wet and Icy Worlds. Astrobiology, 14(4), 308–343. doi:10.1089/ast.2013.1110

  • Shibuya, T., Tahata, M., Ueno, Y., Komiya, T., Takai, K., Yoshida, N., … Russell, M. J. (2013). Decrease of seawater CO2 concentration in the Late Archean: An implication from 2.6Ga seafloor hydrothermal alteration. Precambrian Research, 236, 59–64. doi:10.1016/j.precamres.2013.07.010

  • Vance, S., Bouffard, M., Choukroun, M., & Sotin, C. (2014). Ganymede׳s internal structure including thermodynamics of magnesium sulfate oceans in contact with ice. Planetary and Space Science, 96, 62–70. doi:10.1016/j.pss.2014.03.011

2014 Teams