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Analysis of Dark Albedo Features on a Southern Polar Dune Field of Mars
Kereszturi, Ákos; Horváth, András; Bérczi, Szaniszló +4 more
We observed 20-200 m sized low-albedo seepage-like streaks and their annual change on defrosting polar dunes in the southern hemisphere of Mars, based on the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC), High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC), and High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) images. The structures originate from dark spots and can be described …
Key Scientific Questions and Key Investigations from the First International Conference on Martian Phyllosilicates
Mustard, John F.; Bibring, Jean-Pierre; Poulet, François +6 more
Minerals and their occurrences can tell us about the chemistry, pressure, and temperatures of past environments on Mars and thus allow inferences about the potential for habitability. Thanks to recent space exploration, a new vision is emerging wherein Mars hosted environmental conditions of potential astrobiological relevance. This epoch is ident…
Detectability of Planetary Characteristics in Disk-Averaged Spectra. I: The Earth Model
Meadows, Victoria S.; Crisp, David; Bibring, Jean-Pierre +4 more
Over the next 2 decades, NASA and ESA are planning a series of space-based observatories to detect and characterize extrasolar planets. This first generation of observatories will not be able to spatially resolve the terrestrial planets detected. Instead, these planets will be characterized by disk-averaged spectroscopy. To assess the detectabilit…
Clathrate Hydrates of Oxidants in the Ice Shell of Europa
Hand, Kevin P.; Carlson, Robert W.; Cooper, John F. +1 more
Europa's icy surface is radiolytically modified by high-energy electrons and ions, and photolytically modified by solar ultraviolet photons. Observations from the Galileo Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer, ground-based telescopes, the International Ultraviolet Explorer, and the Hubble Space Telescope, along with laboratory experiment results, ind…
Biosignatures from Earth-Like Planets Around M Dwarfs
Crisp, David; Cohen, Martin; Tinetti, Giovanna +5 more
Coupled one-dimensional photochemical-climate calculations have been performed for hypothetical Earth-like planets around M dwarfs. Visible/near-infrared and thermal-infrared synthetic spectra of these planets were generated to determine which biosignature gases might be observed by a future, space-based telescope. Our star sample included two obs…
Biologically Enhanced Energy and Carbon Cycling on Titan?
Grinspoon, David H.; Schulze-Makuch, Dirk
With the Cassini-Huygens Mission in orbit around Saturn, the large moon Titan, with its reducing atmosphere, rich organic chemistry, and heterogeneous surface, moves into the astrobiological spotlight. Environmental conditions on Titan and Earth were similar in many respects 4 billion years ago, the approximate time when life originated on Earth. …
COSAC Onboard Rosetta: A Bioastronomy Experiment for the Short-Period Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Roll, Reinhard; Rosenbauer, Helmut; Gösmann, Fred +1 more
The COSAC (Cometary Sampling and Composition Experiment) onboard the Rosetta mission is a combined gas chromatograph (GC)-mass spectrometer (MS). It is situated on Philae, the lander of the mission, which is intended to land on the nucleus of comet 67/PChuryumov- Gerasimenko. The purpose of the experiment is to analyze the volatile fraction of soi…