Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology Archives

TOP - NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured this 360-degree view of a region filled with low ridges called boxwork formations between Nov. 9 and Dec. 7, 2025. At 1.5 billion pixels, this is one of the largest panoramas Curiosity has ever taken. Larger image BOTTOM - NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover captured this 360-degree panorama of a region nicknamed “Crocodile Bridge” on the rim of Jezero Crater. This region holds some of the oldest rocks anywhere in the solar system. Larger image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Desert Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Sample Return

NASA’s Perseverance, Curiosity Panoramas Capture Two Sides of Mars

by Keith CowingApril 28, 2026April 28, 2026

NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers have captured two 360-degree landscapes that highlight how the missions are revealing details of the Red Planet’s formation, watery past, and potential for life (astrobiology).

LILBID cationic mass spectrum of l-norleucine simulating an impact velocity of 5–7 km/s. The protonated molecular peak of l-norleucine is labeled “M+H+.” Fragment ions are identified in the mass spectrum and represented in the molecular structure as well. Ions from the matrix (pure water clusters and sodium and potassium water clusters) are labeled with blue triangles and yellow and green squares. -- Astrobiology via x-mol.net

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Enceladus, Europa, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Tricorders & Sensors

Identifying Amino Acid Isomers With Mass Spectrometry On Icy Ocean

by Keith CowingApril 27, 2026April 27, 2026

Enceladus and Europa are compelling targets for astrobiology investigations due to their potentially habitable subsurface oceans connected to the icy surface by geological processes.

(A) Map of the study area within the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert. Salar Grande is outlined by the white dashed line. The star depicts the sampling location. (B) Photo of two halite nodules analyzed in this study. Arrows in the inset show chlorophyll-colored bands indicative of the endolithic community. -- Astrobiology via Sage

Analog Studies, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Cryobiology, Desert Worlds, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Sample Return, Status Report, Tricorders & Sensors

The Lipidome of a Mars Analog Poly-Extreme Community in Atacama Halite Endolith: Chemotaxonomy, Lipid Adaptation, and Implications for the Search for Extraplanetary Biosignatures

by Keith CowingApril 27, 2026April 27, 2026

We analyzed the lipidome of the endolithic community in halite nodules from Salar Grande in the hyperarid Atacama Desert, which is considered an analog for martian subsurface environments.

(A) Schematic of the ice growth apparatus. (B) Image of the ice growth apparatus shortly after the onset of an experiment. (C) The ~50-cm-thick Europa 2 ice column immediately after extraction. The column is placed upside down to reduce brine loss from the highly porous basal region of the ice. (D) Ice columns subsectioned into smaller, more easily workable pieces and scored at 2-cm intervals in preparation for vertical partitioning. (E) The scored subsections in (D) were cut using an electric band saw, and the 2-cm layers were placed into 500-ml high-density polyethylene amber Nalgene sample bottles. These samples were subsequently melted, filtered, and processed via IC, ICP-OES, and NDIR spectroscopy to acquire our ionic composition and ionic fractionation profiles. -- Science Advances via PubMed

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Cryobiology, Enceladus, Europa, Exploration Gear & Tech, Ganymede, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Polar / Alpine Expeditions, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

As Above, Not So Below: Ion Fractionation In Planetary Analog Ices

by Keith CowingApril 25, 2026April 25, 2026

The geophysical evolution and astrobiological potential of ocean worlds are indelibly linked to the chemical compositions of their oceans and ice shells.

In a cleanroom at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, on April 3, 2026, (from left) Sean Gazarik, Tyler Radomsky, Amber Dubill and Emory Toomey complete a “fit check” of Dragonfly’s top deck on the rest of the rotorcraft lander’s body. NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Cryobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Origin & Evolution of Life, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Saturn, Titan, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Astrobiology Exploration: Dragonfly Rotorcraft Hardware Integration and Parachute Test

by Keith CowingApril 24, 2026April 24, 2026

NASA’s Dragonfly rotorcraft is beginning to take shape – literally – with the delivery of the panels that make up the rotorcraft lander’s body. Built from ultra‑lightweight honeycomb panels designed […]

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Toward Inferring the Surface Fluxes of Biosignature Gases on Rocky Exoplanets from Telescope Spectra

by Keith CowingApril 24, 2026April 24, 2026

The James Webb Space Telescope and the future Habitable Worlds Observatory aim to discover exoplanet atmospheric spectra that detect life. Currently, most existing spectral “retrieval” algorithms focus on inferring the […]

The night-side surface temperatures for different minimum eccentricities for K2-141b, at its present day orbit.

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Status Report

Coupled Orbital And Interior Structure Evolution Of Lava Planets

by Keith CowingApril 24, 2026April 24, 2026

Lava planets likely did not form in their current orbits, instead migrating inward via orbital decay, which influenced the evolution of their magma oceans.

Sky map of the Lyα brightness seen from Europa for visit 12 (Jan 26, 2015) from interplanetary medium H scattering model (Pryor et al. 2024). The direction to the Sun is shown by the small white circle, the anti-Sun direction is shown by the white asterisk. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Europa, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Space Weather & Heliophysics, Status Report

Europa’s Lyman-α Emissions From HST/STIS Observations

by Keith CowingApril 23, 2026April 23, 2026

Context. An image of Lyman-α (Lyα) emission from Europa obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope’s Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (HST/STIS) provided the first evidence for localized water vapor (H2O) aurora, […]

(a) A tube with synthesized high-pressure material (tan and red regions) before collection. The origin of the color difference is unclear, but it is thought to be due to a difference of the thickness/amount of deposited material in each region. Black markings (around 10.7 and 12 cm) are from highly localized arc discharging where the RF plasma electrodes are located, and only affect the glass tube itself. Significant arcing has not been witnessed and is not expected to occur or affect resulting tholin. The run time of this experiment is 180 hours. (b) Powder samples obtained after manual scraping of the red and tan regions in subfigure a. Scraped powders achieve a uniform color with no clear tan or red differences after collection. (c) A fused silica standard (top) and tholin thin film on glass (bottom), ready for nanoindentation measurements. -- astro-ph.EP

Analog Studies, Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Titan

Feeling the Pressure: Effects of Formation Pressure on the Physical Properties of Titan Haze Analogs

by Keith CowingApril 23, 2026April 23, 2026

The Cassini-Huygens mission detected large negative ions in Titan’s ionosphere at pressures as low as 10−6 torr. These ions ultimately polymerize to form Titan’s complex organic haze particles, which are […]

Artist's impression of the planet Epsilon Indi Ab, with water clouds atop its ammonia-dominated atmosphere. Credit E. C. Matthews, MPIA / T. Müller, HdA

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Press Release

Astronomers Find An Exo-Jupiter, And It Seems To Have Clouds

by Keith CowingApril 23, 2026April 23, 2026

A team of astronomers led by Elisabeth Matthews at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) has made a discovery that highlights the limits of most current models of exoplanet […]

Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology

NASA’s Perseverance, Curiosity Panoramas Capture Two Sides of Mars

Identifying Amino Acid Isomers With Mass Spectrometry On Icy Ocean

The Lipidome of a Mars Analog Poly-Extreme Community in Atacama Halite Endolith: Chemotaxonomy, Lipid Adaptation, and Implications for the Search for Extraplanetary Biosignatures

As Above, Not So Below: Ion Fractionation In Planetary Analog Ices

Astrobiology Exploration: Dragonfly Rotorcraft Hardware Integration and Parachute Test

Toward Inferring the Surface Fluxes of Biosignature Gases on Rocky Exoplanets from Telescope Spectra

Coupled Orbital And Interior Structure Evolution Of Lava Planets

Europa’s Lyman-α Emissions From HST/STIS Observations

Feeling the Pressure: Effects of Formation Pressure on the Physical Properties of Titan Haze Analogs

Astronomers Find An Exo-Jupiter, And It Seems To Have Clouds

Determining The “Biosignature Threshold” For Life Detection On Biotic, Abiotic, or Prebiotic Worlds.

Icy Ocean Planet Research: NASA ROSES-25 Amendment 71: New Opportunity A.16 Cryosphere

Global Carbon Fixation In Earth’s Subsurface Biosphere

tinyRNA-seq: An Optimized Approach To Sequencing Tiny RNAs And Primitive RNA Genomes

Stellar Flares Rather Than High Tint As Possible Cause For the Missing Methane In Young Exoplanets: The Case Study of V1298-Tau b