NASA Astrobiology

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A volcanically active planet is shown in closeup at the left side of the image with glowing eruptions and lines of lava on the surface. To the right and in the distance is a faint blue glowing ball representing the more massive planet in the system.

Sixteen frames from Voyager 1's flyby of Jupiter in 1979 were merged to create this image. Jupiter's Great Red Spot is visible in the center. Jupiter's moon Europa can be seen in the foreground at the bottom left of the image.

The frame is a horizontal rainbow of color on a grid. Shadows of molecules can be seen through the light as well as the jagged peaks and troughs of spectral lines.

Fizzy Super Earths and Lava Worlds“Fizzy Super-Earths: Impacts of Magma Composition on the Bulk Density and Structure of Lava Worlds.” in The Astrophysical Journal.01/03

Identifying Hydrothermal Activity on Icy Ocean Worlds“Ethene-ethanol ratios as potential indicators of hydrothermal activity at Enceladus, Europa, and other icy ocean worlds.” In Icarus.02/03

NASA Raman Spectroscopic Database"The NASA Raman spectroscopic database: Ramdb version 1.00.” In Icarus.03/03

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October 2023Endogenous CO2 ice mixture on the surface of Europa and no detection of plume activity

Villanueva, G. L., Hammel, H. B., Milam, S. N., Kofman, V., Hand, K. P., Paganini, L., Stansberry, J., Liuzzi, G. (2023). Endogenous CO2 ice mixture on the surface of Europa and no detection of plume activity. Science, 381(6664), 1305-1308. doi: 10.1126/science.adg4270

September 2023Stable Brine Layers beneath Europa’s Chaos

Chivers, C. J., Buffo, J. J., & Schmidt, B. E. (2023). Stable Brine Layers beneath Europa’s Chaos. The Planetary Science Journal, 4(9), 159. doi:10.3847/psj/acea75

Mineral-Mediated Oligoribonucleotide Condensation: Broadening the Scope of Prebiotic Possibilities on the Early Earth

Riggi, V. S., Watson, E. B., Steele, A., & Rogers, K. L. (2023). Mineral-Mediated Oligoribonucleotide Condensation: Broadening the Scope of Prebiotic Possibilities on the Early Earth. Life, 13(9), 1899. doi:10.3390/life13091899

The Physical Oceanography of Ice-Covered Moons

Soderlund, K. M., Rovira-Navarro, M., Le Bars, M., Schmidt, B. E., & Gerkema, T. (2023). The Physical Oceanography of Ice-Covered Moons. Annual Review of Marine Science, 16(1), None. doi:10.1146/annurev-marine-040323-101355

August 2023Geochemical and physical variability of Icelandic tephra fields and glaciovolcanic sandur to inform spatial sampling in Mars biosignature searches

Cable, M. L., Sessa, A. M., Rader, E., Simpson, A. C., Hanna, A. M., Gentry, D. M., … King, D. (2023). Geochemical and physical variability of Icelandic tephra fields and glaciovolcanic sandur to inform spatial sampling in Mars biosignature searches. Planetary and Space Science, 232, 105694. doi:10.1016/j.pss.2023.105694

Igneous meteorites suggest Aluminium-26 heterogeneity in the early Solar Nebula

Krestianinov, E., Amelin, Y., Yin, Q-Z., Cary, P., Huyskens, M. H., Miller, A., … Rocco, T. D. (2023). Igneous meteorites suggest Aluminium-26 heterogeneity in the early Solar Nebula. Nature Communications, 14(1), None. doi:10.1038/s41467-023-40026-1

Spatial Distribution of Glycine and Aspartic Acid in Rapidly Frozen Brines Relevant to Enceladus

Vu, T. H., Hodyss, R., Johnson, P. V., & Cable, M. L. (2023). Spatial Distribution of Glycine and Aspartic Acid in Rapidly Frozen Brines Relevant to Enceladus. The Planetary Science Journal, 4(8), 156. doi:10.3847/psj/aced90

June 2023Detection of Short Peptides as Putative Biosignatures of Psychrophiles via Laser Desorption Mass Spectrometry

Ni, Z., Arevalo, R., Bardyn, A., Willhite, L., Ray, S., Southard, A., … Nunn, B. L. (2023). Detection of Short Peptides as Putative Biosignatures of Psychrophiles via Laser Desorption Mass Spectrometry. Astrobiology, 23(6), 657–669. doi:10.1089/ast.2022.0138

Detection of phosphates originating from Enceladus’s ocean

Postberg, F., Sekine, Y., Klenner, F., Glein, C. R., Zou, Z., Abel, B., … Tan, S. (2023). Detection of phosphates originating from Enceladus’s ocean. Nature, 618(7965), 489–493. doi:10.1038/s41586-023-05987-9

April 2023Replicated life-history patterns and subsurface origins of the bacterial sister phyla Nitrospirota and Nitrospinota

D’Angelo, T., Goordial, J., Lindsay, M. R., McGonigle, J., Booker, A., Moser, D., … Orcutt, B. N. (2023). Replicated life-history patterns and subsurface origins of the bacterial sister phyla Nitrospirota and Nitrospinota. The ISME Journal, 17(6), 891–902. doi:10.1038/s41396-023-01397-x

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