Search Publications
Eta-Earth Revisited II: Deriving a Maximum Number of Earth-Like Habitats in the Galactic Disk
Lammer, Helmut; Scherf, Manuel; Spross, Laurenz
In Lammer et al. (2024), we defined Earth-like habitats (EHs) as rocky exoplanets within the habitable zone of complex life (HZCL) on which Earth-like N2-O2-dominated atmospheres with minor amounts of CO2 can exist, and derived a formulation for estimating the maximum number of EHs in the galaxy given realistic pro…
Astrobiological Potential of Fe/Mg Smectites with Special Emphasis on Jezero Crater, Mars 2020 Landing Site
Singh, Deepali; Sinha, Rishitosh K.; Singh, Priyadarshini +2 more
Life is known to adapt in accordance with its surrounding environment and sustainable resources available to it. Since harsh conditions would have precluded any possible aerobic evolution of life at the martian surface, it is plausible that martian life, should it exist, would have evolved in such a way as to derive energy from more optimum resour…
Oxia Planum: The Landing Site for the ExoMars "Rosalind Franklin" Rover Mission: Geological Context and Prelanding Interpretation
Pan, Lu; Quantin-Nataf, Cathy; Fawdon, Peter +18 more
The European Space Agency (ESA) and Roscosmos ExoMars mission will launch the "Rosalind Franklin" rover in 2022 for a landing on Mars in <uri xlink:href="http://2023.The">2023.The</uri> goals of the mission are to search for signs of past and present life on Mars, investigate the water/geochemical environment as a function of depth in …
Morphological and Spectral Diversity of the Clay-Bearing Unit at the ExoMars Landing Site Oxia Planum
Pan, Lu; Quantin-Nataf, Cathy; Cremonese, Gabriele +10 more
The European Space Agency and Roscosmos' ExoMars rover mission, which is planned to land in the Oxia Planum region, will be dedicated to exobiology studies at the surface and subsurface of Mars. Oxia Planum is a clay-bearing site that has preserved evidence of long-term interaction with water during the Noachian era. Fe/Mg-rich phyllosilicates hav…
Interrelationships in the Gypsum–Syngenite–Görgeyite System and Their Possible Formation on Mars
Arana, Gorka; Madariaga, Juan Manuel; García-Florentino, Cristina +7 more
Constraints for Use of Ultraviolet Spectropolarimetry to Detect Chiral Amino Acids from Comets
Gómez de Castro, Ana I.; De Isidro-Gómez, Ana I.
Life is pervasive on planet Earth, but whether life is ubiquitous in the Galaxy and sustainable over timescales comparable to stellar evolution is unknown. Evidence suggests that life first appeared on Earth more than 3.77 Gyr ago, during a period of heavy meteoric bombardment. Amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, have been demonstrated t…
Fluvial Regimes, Morphometry, and Age of Jezero Crater Paleolake Inlet Valleys and Their Exobiological Significance for the 2020 Rover Mission Landing Site
Mangold, Nicolas; Quantin-Nataf, Cathy; Massé, Marion +5 more
Jezero crater has been selected as the landing site for the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, because it contains a paleolake with two fan-deltas, inlet and outlet valleys. Using the data from the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) and the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE), we conducted a quantitative geomorphological study of the …
Mawrth Vallis, Mars: A Fascinating Place for Future In Situ Exploration
Horgan, Briony; Poulet, François; Carter, John +4 more
After the successful landing of the Mars Science Laboratory rover, both NASA and ESA initiated a selection process for potential landing sites for the Mars2020 and ExoMars missions, respectively. Two ellipses located in the Mawrth Vallis region were proposed and evaluated during a series of meetings (three for Mars2020 mission and five for ExoMars…
Estimated Minimum Life Span of the Jezero Fluvial Delta (Mars)
Mangold, Nicolas; Salese, Francesco; Kleinhans, Maarten G. +4 more
The paleo-lake floor at the edge of the Jezero delta has been selected as the NASA 2020 rover landing site. In this article, we demonstrate the sequences of lake filling and delta formation and constrain the minimum life span of the Jezero paleo-lake from sedimentological and hydrological analyses. Two main phases of delta evolution can be recogni…
In Search for a Planet Better than Earth: Top Contenders for a Superhabitable World
Heller, René; Guinan, Edward; Schulze-Makuch, Dirk
The fact that Earth is teeming with life makes it appear odd to ask whether there could be other planets in our galaxy that may be even more suitable for life. Neglecting this possible class of "superhabitable" planets, however, could be considered anthropocentric and geocentric biases. Most important from the perspective of an observer searching …