A simple chemistry method could vastly enhance how scientists search for signs of life on other planets. The test uses a liquid-based technique known as capillary electrophoresis to separate a […]
biosignature
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Press Release
New Instrument Could Search for Signatures of Life on Mars
A sensing technique that the U.S. military currently uses to remotely monitor the air to detect potentially life-threatening chemicals, toxins, and pathogens has inspired a new instrument that could “sniff” […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Press Release
Identifying Planetary Biosignature Impostors
In order to identify inhabited worlds beyond the Solar System, scientists are exploring the possibility of detecting gases that could serve as biosignatures in the atmospheres of extrasolar planets. Molecular […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release
Identifying Planetary Biosignature Impostors: Spectral Features of CO and O4 Resulting from Abiotic O2/O3 Production
O2 and O3 have been long considered the most robust individual biosignature gases in a planetary atmosphere, yet multiple mechanisms that may produce them in the absence of life have […]
Posted inMars, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release
Tales from a Martian Rock
A new analysis of a Martian rock that meteorite hunters plucked from an Antarctic ice field 30 years ago this month reveals a record of the planet’s climate billions of […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets
Some inconvenient truths about biosignatures involving two chemical species on Earth-like exoplanets
The detection of strong thermochemical disequilibrium in the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet is thought to be a potential biosignature. In this article we present a new kind of false […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Plant Biology
Prospects for Detecting Oxygen, Water, and Chlorophyll in an Exo-Earth
The goal of finding and characterizing nearby Earth-like planets is driving many NASA high-contrast flagship mission concepts, the latest of which is known as the Advanced Technology Large-Aperture Space Telescope […]
Posted inMars, Meteorites & Asteroids
Evidence of Water in a Martian Meteorite
A team of scientists at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., has found evidence of past water movement throughout a Martian meteorite, […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Mars, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release
Research Shows Existence of Reduced Carbon on Mars
NASA-funded research on Mars meteorites that landed on Earth shows strong evidence that very large molecules containing carbon, which is a key ingredient for the building blocks of life, can […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Mars, Meteorites & Asteroids, Microbiology & Virology, People Of Astrobiology, Status Report
ALH84001: The Key to Unlocking Secrets About Mars-15 Years and Counting
From the December 27, 1984 discovery of ALH84001, and its subsequent identification as a sample of Mars in 1993, mystery and debate has surrounded the meteorite [1].