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	Scientists are particularly interested in Saturn's moon Titan because it's one of the few known moons with its own dense atmosphere. Titan's atmosphere is also thought to be very similar to what Earth's atmosphere was a long time ago. By learning about Titan, we'll learn about our own planet.

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For current information about the NASA Astrobiology Program, please visit http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/

2002-07-11 | SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGIES
Ice Cube of Exotic Microbes

Lake Vostok, a Lake-Ontario-sized pool of water, lies four kilometers (two and a half miles) under the ice of Antarctica. Scientists are eager to drill into the lake to look for microbes in the sunless environment. If life can survive there, with no photosynthesis to insert energy into an ecosystem, perhaps life could exist in the subsurface ocean of Europa as well. But fear of contaminating the lake with microbes from the surface has delayed drilling. Now scientist P. Buford Price of the University of California, Berkeley, proposes testing techniques for sterile drilling by boring into a pocket of permafrost (ice mixed with dirt) 3 kilometers (2 miles) underground. If early attempts do contaminate the permafrost inadvertently, the foreign microbes are much less likely to spread through dirt and ice than they would through water. These efforts could potentially discover cold-resistant microbes making their home in the sunless, icy depths. The drilling methods might also be employed one day to search for life in the polar ice caps of Mars. And the lessons learned could be applied in planetary protection, one of the guiding principles of astrobiology.

More on this story Full text of original item from Astrobiology Magazine, Jul 11, 2002

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Jul 08, 2004 | SCIENCE
New Map Reveals Hidden Features of Ice-buried Antarctic Lake
(NSF) - Scientists have developed the first-ever map of water depth for Antarctica's Lake Vostok.

Aug 15, 2003 | SCIENCE, MISSIONS
Researchers Watch Antarctic Lake Water Fizz Like a Can of Pop
(NASA - Ames) - Water released from Lake Vostok, deep beneath the south polar ice sheet, could gush like a popped can of soda if not contained.

Oct 11, 2002 | SCIENCE, MISSIONS
Boost for Life on Jupiter Moon
(BBC) - New observations made by the Galileo spacecraft may strengthen the argument for life on Europa.

Jan 11, 2002 | MISSIONS, TECHNOLOGIES
Ice Explorer Conceived for Other Worlds Gets Arctic Test
(NASA) - NASA has successfully field-tested a prototype of a robot that may one day melt through ice on Mars or Europa to look for life.

Aug 17, 2001 | SCIENCE
Life on Ice
(NASA Astrobiology Institute) - Psychrophiles, organisms that are able to survive in extremely low temperatures, may serve as analogues for possible life on other planets.

Apr 13, 2001 | SCIENCE, MISSIONS
Focus on Europa
(NASA Astrobiology Institute) - Scientists from a variety of disciplines met recently to consider the possibility of life on Europa, and to plan how to look for it.

Sep 27, 1999 | SCIENCE
Hidden Antarctic lake links to alien life
(BBC) - Scientists think undiscovered lifeforms may exist in a lake miles beneath the ice. NASA hopes to use Lake Vostok as a rehearsal for the search for life on Europa.

Oct 23, 1998 | SCIENCE, MISSIONS, TECHNOLOGIES
Signs of water on Callisto
(Science@NASA) - Scientists may have discovered a salty ocean and some ingredients for life on Jupiter's moon.

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