Planetary Lake Lander Project Video Series Seminars

The NASA Astrobiology Science Forum: The Origin, Evolution, Distribution and Future of Astrobiology

Celebrating the NAI at 20 Join us on November 14th to celebrate the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) as it completes its 20-year tenure. We remember the origin of astrobiology, the impact of the NAI to the field of astrobiology, share the current development of the field, and discuss the future direction of astrobiology at NASA, at the Ames Research Center, and in the broader community. The Astrobiology Science Forum will highlight Ames’ exobiology and astrobiology enterprise, Ame's role as the host of the NAI; and share how the field has influenced and changed planetary science missions, trained the next generation of astrobiologists, and built a strong community of passionate researchers. The NAI has established a solid foundation for NASA and Ames to embark vigorously on the next chapter of Astrobiology/Exobiology and to continue the revolutionary discoveries that have and will develop in this thriving field. *For Participants Outside of Ames:* Link for Remote Participation: https://zoom.us/j/533214855 *For Participants in the Ames Community:* *Registration*: To help us plan logistics, for members of the Ames community, please fill out the registration form if you plan to attend in person: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScGSsMo2GW-GrLrLhOMY7G_aoGDnxIkZ1llvACRmcC5gG819w/viewform *Location*: Building 201 Auditorium, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA Badging is required and will be arranged for registered attendees. *Agenda*: 08:30–08:45 Welcome and Introductions – Dave Korsmeyer 08:45–10:30 THE ORIGIN Chair: Scott Hubbard · Scott Hubbard: Founding the NASA Astrobiology Institute (30 min) · John Rummel: Exobiology Before Astrobiology (10 min, remote) · David Morrison/Dave Des Marais: Astrobiology Roadmapping (30 min) · Lynn Harper: Astrobiology Yesterday and Tomorrow (15 min) · Rose Grymes: NAI Early Years (15 min) · Carl Pilcher: The NAI (5 min, remote) 10:30–11:00 BREAK - coffee and snacks in N200 lobby 11:00–12:30 EVOLUTION: DEVELOPING THE COMMUNITY AND SCIENCE Chair: Dave Des Marais · Lynn Rothschild: The Birth of AbSciCon (15 min) · Greg Schmidt: The NAI model and its Legacy (15 min) · Dave Des Marais: The Charter NAI Ames Team (15 min) · Scott Sandford: NAI at 20: Prebiotic Chemical Complexity (15 min) · Nathalie Cabrol: The NAI at the SETI Institute: Astrobiology Exploration on Earth and Beyond (15 min) · Mike Mumma: 16 years in the NAI: Synergy Amongst NAI Teams & Paradigm- Shifting Science at Goddard (15 min) 12:30–01:30 LUNCH - on your own 01:30–03:00 THE FUTURE I Chair: Michael Bicay · Mary Voytek: The Astrobiology Program: Leading Discovery (15 min, remote) · Lindsay Hays: The NASA Astrobiology Program: Research, Coordination and Networks (30 min) PANEL SESSION: OPPORTUNITIES FOR EARLY CAREER ASTROBIOLOGISTS Moderator: Tori Hoehler (45 min) (Training programs, funding, RCNs, IRADS, collaboration, challenges) Panel: Mary Beth Wilhelm, Sanjoy Som, Kathryn Bywaters, Niki Parenteau, David Smith 03:00–03:30 BREAK - coffee and snacks in N200 lobby 03:30–05:00 THE FUTURE II Chair: Michael Bicay · Jim Green - Answering the Question: Is There Life Beyond Earth? (8 min, remote) · Lori Glaze - NASA Astrobiology Looking Forward (5 min, remote) · Michael Bicay - The Future of (Astro)Biology @ ARC (20 min) · Alfonso Davila - Astrobiology Missions: ELSAH and Icebreaker (15 min) · Discussion Period (20 min)

Astrovirology

Thank you for your interest in Astrovirology, please take a minute to fill out a survey to improve future virtual workshops. https://forms.gle/xMe7JXjDhwyqjkFJ7 Dates: Wed, Sept 18 8:00AM - 12:00PM PDT and Thurs, Sept 19 1:00PM - 5:00PM PDT Meeting Recording Day 1 Meeting Recording Day 2 The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Astrobiology Institute (NAI) is hosting a virtual Workshop Without Walls on Astrovirology to review and advance the science of understanding what a virus is, their origin, ecology, impact on evolution, and their role in exobiology as a biosignature. This virtual workshop will be over two half-days to enabled global scientific exchange with no attendance costs or travel required. Topics covered will presented in a manner to reach a range of scientific understanding including students, researchers, educators, science writers, and members of the general public. This virtual workshop will consist of presentations and time for questions or discussion periods, facilitated through an online multi-user video-conferencing system hosted by the technical facilities of the NAI. Science Organizing Committee: Gareth (Gary) Trubl, Lawrence Livermore National Lab, Trubl1@llnl.gov Kathryn Bywaters, NASA Ames/SETI, kathryn.f.bywaters@nasa.gov Kenneth Stedman, Portland State University, kstedman@pdx.edu Penelope Boston, NASA Ames, penelope.j.boston@nasa.gov Schedule: (talk length/time for questions) Day 1 – Wednesday, September 18, 2019, 8:00AM - 12:00PM PDT Theme: Origins and Evolution 8:00–8:30 | Welcome and Introductions | Penny Boston, Ken Stedman | 30/0 8:30–9:00 | Detecting Life Universally (in Water) | Steven Benner (Foundation For Applied Molecular Evolution, USA; sbenner@ffame.org) | 20/10 9:00–9:30 | Small Circular DNA Viruses: The muddy “playground” of recombinant, reassortant, and highly diverse viruses | Arvind Varsani (Arizona State University, USA; Arvind.Varsani@asu.edu) | 20/10 9:30–10:00 | Viruses never do as they’re told, and there’s a good reason for it: bacteria-phage coevolution as a driver of diversity | Britt Koskella (University of California Berkeley, USA; bkoskella@berkeley.edu) | 20/10 10:00–10:30 | Viral symbiosis: New rules for pre-cellular evolutionary tempo and mode | Rachel Whitaker (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA; rwhitaker@life.illinois.edu) | 20/10 10:30–10:40 | Break 10:40–11:10 | Viral infection modes and invasion fitness across a continuum from lysis to latency | Joshua Weitz (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA; jsweitz@gatech.edu) | 20/10 11:10–11:40 | Possibilities and pitfalls of expanded host range mutations | Siobain Duffy (Rutgers University, USA; duffy@sebs.rutgers.edu) | 20/10 11:40–12:00 | Closing remarks | Ken Stedman | 10/10 Day 2 – Thursday, September 19, 2019, 1:00PM - 5:00PM PDT Theme: Ecology and Exobiology 1:00–1:10 | Opening remarks | Ken Stedman | 10/0 1:10–1:50 | Virus taxonomy: What is it and why should I care? | Evelien Adriaenssens (Quadram Institute Bioscience, UK; evelien.adriaenssens@quadram.ac.uk) | 30/10 1:50–2:20 | Astrovirology in marine systems: how virus-microbe interactions accelerate evolution and generate organismal diversity | Nigel Goldenfeld (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA; nigel@illinois.edu) | 20/10 2:20–3:00 | Viral ecogenomics: exploring viral diversity and virus-host interactions from metagenomes | Simon Roux (Joint Genome Institute, USA; sroux@lbl.gov) | 30/10 3:00–3:30 | Life detection and viruses as biosignatures | Kathryn Bywaters (NASA Ames/SETI, USA; kathryn.f.bywaters@nasa.gov) | 20/10 3:30–3:40 | Break 3:40–4:10 | Using stable isotopes to track viruses in soils | Gary Trubl (Lawrence Livermore National Lab USA; Trubl1@llnl.gov) | 20/10 4:10–4:40 | Astrovirology - What's missing? | Ken Stedman (Portland State University, USA; kstedman@pdx.edu) | 20/10 4:40–5:00 | Acknowledgements | Penny Boston, Ken Stedman, Gary Trubl, Kathy Bywaters | 15/5 Workshop Resources: What is Astrobiology Astrobiology at NASA NASA Astrobiology Institute Ask an Astrobiologist Homepage The History of Astrobiology The Astrobiology Primer Bacteriophage ViralZone Previous NASA Astrobiology Roadmap. Suggested articles: Pett-Ridge, J. and Firestone, M.K., 2017. Using stable isotopes to explore root-microbe-mineral interactions in soil. Rhizosphere, 3, pp.244-253. [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452219817300691] Musat, N., Musat, F., Weber, P.K. and Pett-Ridge, J., 2016. Tracking microbial interactions with NanoSIMS. Current opinion in biotechnology, 41, pp.114-121. [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0958166916301574] Blazewicz, S.J., Schwartz, E. and Firestone, M.K., 2014. Growth and death of bacteria and fungi underlie rainfall‐induced carbon dioxide pulses from seasonally dried soil. Ecology, 95(5), pp.1162-1172. [https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1890/13-1031.1] Blazewicz, S.J. and Schwartz, E., 2011. Dynamics of 18 O incorporation from H 2 18 O into soil microbial DNA. Microbial ecology, 61(4), pp.911-916. [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00248-011-9826-7] Pacton, M., Wacey, D., Corinaldesi, C., Tangherlini, M., Kilburn, M.R., Gorin, G.E., Danovaro, R. and Vasconcelos, C., 2014. Viruses as new agents of organomineralization in the geological record. Nature communications, 5, p.4298. [https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms5298] Trubl G, Roux S, Solonenko N, Li Y, Bolduc B, Rodríguez-Ramos J, Eloe-Fadrosh EA, Rich VI, Sullivan MB. 2019. Towards optimized viral metagenomes for double-stranded and single-stranded DNA viruses from challenging soils. PeerJ 7:e7265 [https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7265] Roux S, Trubl G, Goudeau D, Nath N, Couradeau E, Ahlgren NA, Zhan Y, Marsan D, Chen F, Fuhrman JA, Northen TR, Sullivan MB, Rich VI, Malmstrom RR, Eloe-Fadrosh EA. 2019. Optimizing de novo genome assembly from PCR-amplified metagenomes. PeerJ 7:e6902 [https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6902] Horlacher, J., Hottiger, M., Podust, V.N., Hübscher, U. and Benner, S.A., 1995. Recognition by viral and cellular DNA polymerases of nucleosides bearing bases with nonstandard hydrogen bonding patterns. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 92(14), pp.6329-6333. [https://www.pnas.org/content/92/14/6329.short] Warwick-Dugdale, J., Solonenko, N., Moore, K., Chittick, L., Gregory, A.C., Allen, M.J., Sullivan, M.B. and Temperton, B., 2019. Long-read viral metagenomics captures abundant and microdiverse viral populations and their niche-defining genomic islands. PeerJ, 7, p.e6800. [https://peerj.com/articles/6800] Wongsurawat, T., Jenjaroenpun, P., Taylor, M., Lee, J., Tolardo, A.L., Parvathareddy, J., Kandel, S., Wadley, T.D., Kaewnapan, B., Athipanyasilp, N. and Skidmore, A., 2019. Rapid sequencing of multiple RNA viruses in their native form. Frontiers in microbiology, 10, p.260. [https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00260/full] Boldogkői, Z., Moldován, N., Balázs, Z., Snyder, M. and Tombácz, D., 2019. Long-read sequencing–a powerful tool in viral transcriptome research. Trends in microbiology. [https://www.cell.com/trends/microbiology/fulltext/S0966-842X(19)30036-8] Benner, S.A., 2017. Detecting Darwinism from molecules in the Enceladus plumes, Jupiter's moons, and other planetary water lagoons. Astrobiology, 17(9), pp.840-851. [https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/ast.2016.1611?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3dpubmed] Berliner, A.J., Mochizuki, T. and Stedman, K.M., 2018. Astrovirology: Viruses at large in the universe. Astrobiology, 18(2), pp.207-223. [https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ast.2017.1649] Zhao, L., Seth-Pasricha, M., Stemate, D., Crespo-Bellido, A., Gagnon, J., Draghi, J. and Duffy, S., 2019. Existing host range mutations constrain further emergence of RNA viruses. Journal of virology, 93(4), pp.e01385-18. [https://jvi.asm.org/content/93/4/e01385-18/article-info] Roux, S., Adriaenssens, E.M., Dutilh, B.E., Koonin, E.V., Kropinski, A.M., Krupovic, M., Kuhn, J.H., Lavigne, R., Brister, J.R., Varsani, A. and Amid, C., 2019. Minimum information about an uncultivated virus genome (MIUViG). Nature biotechnology, 37(1), p.29. [https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt.4306] Kazlauskas, D., Varsani, A., Koonin, E.V. and Krupovic, M., 2019. Multiple origins of prokaryotic and eukaryotic single-stranded DNA viruses from bacterial and archaeal plasmids. Nature communications, 10(1), p.3425. [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-11433-0] Weitz, J.S., Li, G., Gulbudak, H., Cortez, M.H. and Whitaker, R.J., 2019. Viral invasion fitness across a continuum from lysis to latency. Virus evolution, 5(1), p.vez006. [https://academic.oup.com/ve/article/5/1/vez006/5476198] Koskella, B. and Brockhurst, M.A., 2014. Bacteria–phage coevolution as a driver of ecological and evolutionary processes in microbial communities. FEMS microbiology reviews, 38(5), pp.916-931. [https://academic.oup.com/femsre/article/38/5/916/497097] Koskella, B., 2019. New approaches to characterizing bacteria–phage interactions in microbial communities and microbiomes. Environmental microbiology reports, 11(1), pp.15-16. [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1758-2229.12706] Gulbudak, H. and Weitz, J.S., 2019. Heterogeneous viral strategies promote coexistence in virus-microbe systems. Journal of theoretical biology, 462, pp.65-84. [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022519318305381] Adriaenssens, E.M., Wittmann, J., Kuhn, J.H., Turner, D., Sullivan, M.B., Dutilh, B.E., Jang, H.B., van Zyl, L.J., Klumpp, J., Lobocka, M. and Switt, A.I.M., 2018. Taxonomy of prokaryotic viruses: 2017 update from the ICTV Bacterial and Archaeal Viruses Subcommittee. Archives of virology, 163(4), pp.1125-1129. [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00705-018-3723-z] Trubl, G., Jang, H.B., Roux, S., Emerson, J.B., Solonenko, N., Vik, D.R., Solden, L., Ellenbogen, J., Runyon, A.T., Bolduc, B. and Woodcroft, B.J., 2018. Soil viruses are underexplored players in ecosystem carbon processing. MSystems, 3(5), pp.e00076-18. [https://msystems.asm.org/content/3/5/e00076-18] Emerson J.B., Roux S., Brum J.R., Bolduc B., Woodcroft B.J., Jang H-B., Singleton C.M., Solden L.M., Naas A.E., Boyd J.A., Hodgkins S.B., Wilson R.M., Trubl G., Li C., Frolking S., Pope P.B., Wrighton K.C., Crill P.M., Chanton J.P., Saleska S.R., Tyson G.W., Rich V.I., & Sullivan M.B. Host-linked soil viral ecology along a permafrost thaw gradient. Nature microbiology, 3(8), p.870. [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-018-0190-y] Janjic, A., 2018. The Need for Including Virus Detection Methods in Future Mars Missions. Astrobiology, 18(12), pp.1611-1614. [https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ast.2018.1851]

Searching for Signs of Subsurface Life on Mars (Extinct to Extant)

*Hosted by the NASA Astrobiology Institute and the Lunar and Planetary Institute* Join us for the final Workshop Without Walls on Searching for Signs of Subsurface Life (Extinct and Extant): Face-to-Face Workshop at the Lunar and Planetary Institute. To join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://meetings.ringcentral.com/j/1488376168 Or iPhone one-tap : US: +1(773)2319226,,1488376168# Or Telephone: Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location): US: +1(773)2319226 Meeting ID: 148 837 6168
International numbers available: https://meetings.ringcentral.com/teleconference Or an H.323/SIP room system:
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199.255.120.208##1488376168 (US West)
199.255.120.151##1488376168 (US East)
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1488376168@wcrc.ringcentral.com (US West)
1488376168@ecrc.ringcentral.com (US East)
In-Person Location: The Lunar and Planetary Institute 3600 Bay Area Boulevard Houston, TX 77058 https://www.lpi.usra.edu/about/visitor-information/ Agenda (Tentative): Tuesday, August 13, 2019 8:15-8:30 Arrival & Check In, Coffee & Tea 8:30-9:45 Welcome & Meeting Logistics: Penny Boston, Kennda Lynch, and Vlada Stamenkovic 9:45-10:50 Review of Workshop Without Walls Virtual Sessions #1 and #2 and Key Discussion Points (See Section after Agenda) – Part 1 10:50–11:00 Coffee & Snack Break 11:00-12:15 Review of workshop Without Walls Virtual Sessions #1 and #2 and Key Discussion Points Part II. 12:15-1:30 Group Lunch 1:30-2:45 Review of Workshop Without Walls Virtual Sessions #3 and #4 and Key Discussion Points Part I. 2:45-3:00 Coffee & Snack Break 3:00-4:15 Review of Workshop Without Walls Virtual Sessions #3 and #4 and Key Discussion Points Part II 4:15-5:00 Summary of Days Discussion and Prep for Tomorrow 5:30 PM Depart from LPI for Group Dinner (possible group work sessions in the evening: onsite attendees only)! Wednesday, August 14, 2019 8:15-8:30 Arrival to LPI, Coffee & Tea 8:30-9:00 Review of Tuesday Summary & Detail for Agenda 9:00-12:00 Identifying the Big Gaps – What are the key science questions for subsurface life community? 12:00-1:15 Group Lunch 1:15-3:15 Identifying the Big Gaps – What are the key mission & technology goals f for the subsurface life community? 3:15-4:30 Laying the framework – Group discussion to identify and layout key points Decadal Survey White Paper 4:30 – 5:00 Wrap and planning for future virtual meetings and white paper generation 5:00 Adjourn and Departure Also, please join the discussion by joining our dedicated SLACK channel: https://marsundersground.slack.com. See you soon. Penny (penelope.j.boston@nasa.gov) Kennda (klynch@lpi.usra.edu) Vlada (Vlada.Stamenkovic@jpl.nasa.gov)

A significant recommendation to NASA from the 2019 NAS Study entitled “An Astrobiology Strategy for the Search for Life in the Universe” is that: “NASA’s programs and missions should reflect a dedicated focus on research and exploration of subsurface habitability in light of recent advances demonstrating the breadth and diversity of life in Earth’s subsurface, the history and nature of subsurface fluids on Mars, and potential habitats for life on ocean worlds.” As such, the committee also identified key questions that will need to be addressed in the next decade of astrobiology research: • How does subsurface life adapt to extreme environments and energetic spectra? • How do marine and continental subsurface terrestrial communities inform what chemosynthetic or rock-hosted communities on other worlds might look like? • What is the spatial and temporal distribution of potentially habitable environments on Mars, especially in the subsurface? • What are the chemical inventories and physical processes sustaining rock-hosted life on ocean worlds? The goal of this NAI Workshop Without Walls is to develop community recommendations for future missions and exploration strategies for subsurface life on Mars. We intend to address these key questions to ensure that research and exploration of subsurface environments with a focus on life is a well-represented objective in the next decadal survey. The deliverables of this activity will be a series of white papers that will be presented to the community, and then submitted to the decadal committee. *+Dates & Tentative Discussion Topics+* *July 11^th – Kick off Virtual Meeting, Time: 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM Pacific (1:30-2:30 Eastern)* Subject: Why are we doing this, how are we doing this, and what has been done so far (state of the art). Discussion Leaders: Vlada Stamenkovic, Kennda Lynch, Penny Boston Meeting Recording Sign-in Form Link: https://forms.gle/riiPVd142eZzy2cb9 *July 18^th - 2^nd Virtual Meeting, Time: 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM Pacific (12:30-1:30 Eastern)* Subject: Extant life, approaches and strategies. Discussion Leaders: Vlada Stamenkovic, Kennda Lynch, Penny Boston Meeting Recording Slack Channel: https://marsundersground.slack.com Sign-in Form Link: https://forms.gle/VoHzhs6WjbpPUhN96 *July 23^rd – Ancillary meeting at the 9^th International Mars Meeting* Discussion Leaders: Vlada Stamenkovic, Kennda Lynch, Penny Boston Time: 12:00-1:30PM Location: Keck Center, Caltech, Pasadena, CA Slack Channel: https://marsundersground.slack.com *July 30^th – 3^rd Virtual Meeting, Time: 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM Pacific (11:00-12:00 Eastern)* Subject: From extinct and ancient to extant, connections and transitions. Presenters: Shiladitya DasSarma (University of Maryland), Kathy Benison (West Virginia University), Haley Sapers (Caltech) Discussion Leaders: Vlada Stamenkovic, Kennda Lynch, Penny Boston Meeting Recording Sign-in Form Link: https://forms.gle/DhF8eb3YDW6xcfag8 *August 8^th – 4^th Virtual Meeting, Time: 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM Pacific (11:00-12:30 Eastern)* Subject: Missions, how do we nail ET? Discussion Leader(s): Vlada Stamenkovic, Kennda Lynch, Penny Boston Meeting Recording Sign-in Form Link: https://forms.gle/JeQ8ac9orGGMoATM6 *August 13^th & 14^th – Face-to-Face Workshop at Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston Texas* Please check in so we know you will be attending at: https://forms.gle/7wLieH5kmK5J247dA Hotel information: Hotel Block reserved at Best Western Webster - (281) 338-6000. The group name is Mars Underground. The rate is $60 per night + Tax and the Block Expires on July 31st.

GSFC Summer Research Associate 2019 Presentations

Undergraduate Research Associates in Astrobiology: End-of Term Research Presentations The GCA sponsors a summer program (URAA) in which talented undergraduate students conduct cutting-edge research under the direction of GCA scientist-mentors. The students present summaries of their research objectives and findings during an end-of-term session delivered both locally and streamed to the astrobiology community as a whole. The Class of 2019 will present on Friday, August 9th at 1-2 PM EDT in Building 34, Room W130. The Agenda is given below. You are invited to attend, either locally or remotely. Presentations:

Acid Weathering: Analogue Analysis using Terrestrial Acid Lakes and Basalt Clay Synthesis

Elizabeth Cobb (University of Arkansas)
Mentor: Dr. Heather Graham

Polymerization of Amino Acids under plausible Early Earth Conditions

Juliana Drozd (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Mentor: Dr. Eric Parker

Detection of Organic Molecules in Mars-Relevant Material

Maxwell Craddock (Virginia Tech)
Mentor: Dr. James Lewis

Method for the Analysis of Meteoritic Amides

Jose Ramirez-Colon (University of Puerto-Rico)
Mentor: Dr. Jose Aponte

Fast Atmospheric Retrievals with PSG

Carlos Munoz Romero (Grinnell College)
Mentor: Dr. Geronimo Villanueva

Fluorescent Detection of Microbes: Higher Sensitivity Advances in Planetary Protection

Erin Frates (University of Rhode Island)
Mentor: Melissa Floyd

To join using a web browser: The slides and audio/video for this meeting will be presented using Adobe Connect. To join the meeting, connect to: https://ac.arc.nasa.gov/gsfc/ If you are having problems connecting, you can try joining https://ac.arc.nasa.gov/gsfc/?launcher=false, rebooting your computer, or try joining from another network. To view the slides, connect to https://ac.arc.nasa.gov/gsfc/

Getting Under Europa’s Skin

Europa is one of the most enticing targets in the search for life beyond Earth. With an icy outer shell hiding a global ocean, Europa exists in a dynamic environment where immense tides from Jupiter potentially power an active deeper interior and intense radiation and impacts bathe the top of the ice, providing sources of energy that could sustain a biosphere. Europa’s icy plate tectonics, and evidence for shallow water within the ice, implies that rapid ice shell recycling could create a conveyor belt between the ice and ocean, allowing ocean material to one day be detected by spacecraft. Beneath ice shelves on Earth, processes such as accretion, melt and circulation mediate the ice as an important element of the climate system. Here, ice-ocean exchange may be similar to that on Europa, but is difficult to observe given the harsh environment and thickness of the ice. Thus exploring the cryosphere can form the foundation of our understanding of other ocean worlds and a test bed for their exploration. In this presentation, we will explore environments on Europa and their analogs here on Earth. NASA will launch the Europa Clipper Mission in 2021, but while we wait to get there, we are looking to our own cosmic backyard to help us to better understand this enigmatic moon. I will describe our work on the McMurdo and Ross Ice Shelves under our 2017-2020 field program, RISE UP, using the under ice AUV/ROV Icefin built by our lab. We will also describe our work in collaboration with the University of Otago and Antarctica New Zealand on the Ross Ice Shelf Programme, and with the NERC-NSF International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration. Using this new robotic capability, we are working to gather unique new data relevant to climate and planetary science, and develop techniques for together exploring the Earth and one day Europa, an ice-covered world not so unlike our own.

Tracing Formation and Evolution of Outer Solar System Bodies Through Stable Isotopes and Noble Gas Abundances

Observations of 14 N/ 15 N in HCN and N 2 in the atmosphere of Titan provides direct evidence of how photochemistry influences stable isotopes. We have used these observations to determine that Titan’s nitrogen originated as NH 3 in the protosolar nebula. All of this work relies on spacecraft-based observations made at Titan. Ground-based observations combined with spacecraft observations are also of high value. The lower limit observed for 14 N/ 15 N in HCN in Pluto’s atmosphere by ALMA combined with New Horizons observations of the atmospheric composition provides a valuable tool for determining the origin of nitrogen for Pluto if the influences of condensation and aerosol trapping on isotopes can be constrained for which work is ongoing. All of this work is relevant to a future Ice Giants mission to Neptune, where the same methods could be applied to Triton and combined with ALMA observations. Furthermore, a mission to Io that makes in situ observations of the isotopic composition of the atmosphere could provide important information about volatile loss and interior processes at Io, assuming production and loss processes can be well constrained. Finally, noble gas abundances have been an important tool for understanding the origin and evolution of volatiles in the terrestrial planet atmospheres. The recent measurement of cometary noble gas abundances provides important information on the composition of the icy bodies that contributed to the formation of the gas giants, providing constraints for future in situ measurements that should be made with an atmospheric probe.

Simulating Titan’s Atmosphere

Planetary atmospheres may play an important role in the habitability of a world. To better understand the chemistry that occurs in the broad range of atmospheres that exist in the universe, we have run a series of laboratory atmosphere simulation experiments ranging from the cold nitrogen/methane atmospheres of Pluto and Titan to the warm carbon dioxide dominated atmospheres of Venus and some extrasolar planets. I will discuss what we have learned from these experiments and from exploration of the solar system. Sarah Hörst is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins University where she studies the formation and composition of planetary atmospheric hazes. Seminar link: https://zoom.us/j/284978681

Photosynthesis, a Planetary Revolution

Photosynthesis is the most important bioenergetic innovation in the history of the biosphere and it engendered Earth’s most marked environmental change: the rise of dioxygen. Photosynthesis dramatically increased global primary production and transformed Earth's chemical cycles. At the same time, this new photosynthetic source of oxygen brought about tremendous biological change. Oxygen rewrote life’s recipe book, facilitating evolution of the richness we associate with modern biology. In this talk I will present observations from a range of perspectives including genomes, chemistry, and the ancient sedimentary rock record to illustrate what we can learn about how this process emerged two-and-a-half billion years ago—drawing specifically on the special role of the element manganese in this history.

Building Minimal Synthetic Cells

The earliest evolution of life included a series of transition from non-living matter, through prebiotic organic synthesis and chemical evolution, towards the Last Universal Common Ancestor of all life. Our work focuses on the immediately-pre-life stage of evolution, when chemistry became biology. We create synthetic minimal cells that exhibit some key properties of life, without being entirely alive. Those cells express proteins inside phospholipid liposomes, using cell-free protein expression systems. Thus, represent the latest stage of prebiotic evolution, after the establishment of the Central Dogma. Those cells do not exhibit active homeostasis, but they can maintain separate internal environment, they can grow, divide and evolve. The controllability and flexibility of those minimal cells allow us studying chemical processes underlying major transitions in evolution. In our work, we create synthetic minimal cells expressing complex genetic pathways, with membrane proteins facilitating communication with external environment. Together, this creates a comprehensive system to study the advent of cellular processes on the boundary between prebiotic and Darwinian evolution. Kate Adamala is an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development. Seminar link: https://zoom.us/j/752429748

Resurrecting Ancient Biomolecules

For more than three billion years, life and the physical Earth environment have coevolved. A record of this coevolution has been left both in geological materials and in the genetic information of modern organisms. However, understanding the environmental conditions that accompanied the origin and development of early life has remained a significant challenge. On a molecular level, the intersection of biology and the environment can be revealed by the properties of enzymes that drive biogeochemical interactions. By reconstructing and studying ancient enzymes predicted by modern genetic information, biology can be used in a novel way to investigate both the early evolution of these enzymes and the environment of past life. The integration of ancient enzymatic properties and the geological record can reveal how the complex biogeochemical cycles that sustain life on Earth have evolved, and how they may develop on other worlds. Amanda Garcia is NASA Astrobiology postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Arizona-Tucson department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Seminar link: https://zoom.us/j/802217761