NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists in the Planetary Protection group, led by Dr. Kasthuri Venkateswaran, teamed up with microbiologists and geochemists from Harvard University in the laboratories of Dr. Colleen Cavanaugh and Dr. Peter Girguis to deploy the NASA Hydrothermal Vent Biosampler (HVB) on the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Vessel Pt. Lobos using the remotely operated vehicle Ventana.

The NASAHVB is able to collect large-volume samples of hydrothermal vent fluid. It can operate in extreme temperatures reaching 400°C and at depths of up to 6,500 meters. The HVB allows astrobiologists to collect ‘pristine’ samples of vent fluids, and could aid in the discovery of unique, thermo-tolerant organisms.

The NASAHVB was operated by engineers Alberto Behar and Jaret Matthews to collect samples of microbial life from a cold seep at a depth of 960 meters in the Monterey Bay canyon. Cold seeps are areas on the ocean floor characterized by cold temperature (4C) and the seepage of energy-rich dissolved gases such as methane and carbon dioxide from buried sediments into the bottom water. These unique ecosystems are like oases on the deserted ocean floor where microbial and animal communities thrive, independent of energy from the sun, by utilizing the energy in the seeping dissolved gases for growth.

Microbial samples, analyzed by microbiologists Kristina Fontanez (Harvard University) and Christina Stam (NASAJPL), will be combined with geochemical data, collected by geochemist Scott Wankel (Harvard University), to characterize the composition and function of the microbial community at cold seeps.

For more information on the HVB, visit http://eis.jpl.nasa.gov/~behar/HydroVentSampler/HydroVentSampler.html