[Astrobiology] Accessing the martian deep subsurface is a long-standing scientific priority for astrobiology, climate reconstruction, and planetary evolution, yet robotic drilling missions have historically been limited by wellbore instability, loss […]
Away Teams & Field Reports
Posted inImpact events
Researchers Identify Class Of Oddball Meteorite That Killed Earth’s Dinosaurs
[University of British Columbia] A rare CO chondrite meteorite was the probable impactor that struck Earth 66 million years ago, wiping out 75 per cent of Earth’s species, including non-avian […]
Posted inTricorders & Sensors
Tricorder Tech: Ground Truth For The DAVINCI Venus Mission
Checking the mineral composition of some weathered rocks with the ASD TerraSpec Halo Mineral Identifier which serves as a tricorder in this activity. These samples become the “ground truth” for […]
![(A) Sampling location at the origin of Río Tinto, Spain (modified from García-Moyano et al., 2007). (B) The iron microbialites (white arrow) grew horizontally on a northeast-facing wall. (C) -- [GSA Bulletin]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Iron-microbialites.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inAnalog Studies
Iron Microbialites From An Acidic Martian Analog (Río Tinto, Spain)—Implications For Finding Life On Mars
[GSA Bulletin] The search for life on Mars requires identifying suitable biosignatures detectable by rover missions or in returned samples. To support the progressing astrobiological exploration of Mars, we investigated […]
Posted inAway Teams & Field Reports
Training For Astrobiology Spelunking On Mars
Editor’s note: Many astrobiologists think that there is a chance that extant life could be found underneath the surface of Mars where conditions could be more favorable than they currently […]
![Effects of filtration method and sequencing platform on microbial abundance and community composition. Comparison of microbial abundance, sequencing performance, and taxonomic composition among Yellowstone hot spring samples processed using Sterivex, Supor, and polycarbonate (PC) filtration devices and analyzed by Illumina and Oxford Nanopore sequencing. Upper panels show absolute microbial abundance estimates (black bars) and sequence read lengths (red symbols). Lower panels depict species-level relative abundances of dominant bacterial and archaeal (red asterisk) taxa recovered from each sample. -- [biorxiv.org]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Differential-efficiency.png?resize=1200%2C708&ssl=1)
Posted inSample Return
Differential Efficiency Of Sampling Devices In The Measurement Of Microbial Diversity Of Yellowstone National Park Hot Springs
[biorxiv.org] Metagenomic characterization of low-biomass Yellowstone National Park (YNP) hot spring waters remains challenging because microbial recovery is influenced by filtration methodology, sample preservation, DNA extraction, and sequencing strategy.
Posted inWater/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Water Planet Ecosystems: How An Underwater Volcano Is Fertilizing The South Pacific
[Paige Wise USC] There is a volcano beneath the surface of the South Pacific that most people will never see, never hear about, and never think about. But it is […]
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics
Ocean World Genomics: Earth’s Deep Sea Is An Untapped Evolutionary Engine
[University of East Anglia Norwich] The deep-sea is a unique ‘evolutionary engine’ with one of the richest and most unexplored sources of genetic diversity on Earth, according to a major […]
Posted inAway Teams & Field Reports
Offworld Away Team Training: Cave Surveys
A phase of cave surveying in which JAXA astronaut Ayu Yoneda photographs cross-sections of the cave using the Electronic FieldBook, with the assistance of ESA astronaut Rosemary Coogan and NASA […]
Posted inArctic / Antarctic / Alpine
Could Lake Joyce Have Acted As A Long-lived Proglacial Refugium In Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys?
[Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research] Lake Joyce of the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV), Antarctica, contains an endemic copepod population (Diacyclops joycei) that has not been identified from apparently suitable habitats […]