NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI)

Indiana University, Bloomington

Executive Summary

Biosustaining Energy and Nutrient Cycles in the Deep Subsurface of Earth and Mars

Project Reports

Amino Acid Preservation in Saline-Lake Sediments and Mars-Simulant Regolith

Application of U-tube and fiber-optic distributed temperature sensor to characterize the chemical and physical properties of a deep permafrost and sub-permafrost environment at High Lake, Nunavut, Canada.

Challenges for Coring Deep Permafrost on Earth and Mars: Drilling Project at High Lake, Nunavut, Canada

Design, construction and testing of a Cavity-Ring Down Spectrometer for determination of the concentration and isotopic composition of methane

Environmental genomics reveals a single species ecosystem deep within the Earth.

High Lake Gossan deposit: An Arctic analogue for ancient Martian surficial processes?

Isotopic Signatures of Methane and Higher Hydrocarbon Gases from Precambrian Shield Sites: A Model for Abiogenic Polymerization of Hydrocarbons

Mars Forward Contamination Studies Utilizing a Mars Environmental Simulation Chamber

Microbial Communities in Subpermafrost saline fracture water at the Lupin Au Mine, Nunavut, Canada

Radiolytic oxidation of sulfide minerals as a source of sulfate and hydrogen to sustain microbial metabolism

Saline Lakes and Gypsum Dunes in the Rio Grande Rift System as Analogues for Sulfate Deposits on Mars

Stability of methane hydrates in the presence of high salinity brines on Mars

The Diversity of the Original Prebiotic Soup: Re-Analyzing the Original Miller-Urey Spark Discharge Experiments

EPO Reports

Project Reports

Organized by Astrobiology Roadmap Objective

Goal 1: Understand the nature and distribution of habitable environments in the Universe

• Objective 1.1: Models of formation and evolution of habitable planets (2 reports)

Goal 2: Explore for past or present habitable environments, prebiotic chemistry and signs of life elsewhere in our Solar System

• Objective 2.1: Mars exploration (13 reports)
• Objective 2.2: Outer Solar System exploration (2 reports)

Goal 3: Understand how life originates from cosmic and planetary precursors

• Objective 3.1: Sources of prebiotic materials and catalysts (3 reports)
• Objective 3.2: Origins and evolution of functional biomolecules (3 reports)
• Objective 3.3: Origins of energy transduction (3 reports)
• Objective 3.4: Origins of cellularity and protobiological systems (1 reports)

Goal 4: Understand how past life on Earth interacted with its changing planetary and Solar System environment

• Objective 4.1: Earth's early biosphere (4 reports)
• Objective 4.2: Foundations of complex life (2 reports)

Goal 5: Understand the evolutionary mechanisms and environmental limits of life

• Objective 5.1: Environment-dependent, molecular evolution in microorganisms (9 reports)
• Objective 5.2: Co-evolution of microbial communities (6 reports)
• Objective 5.3: Biochemical adaptation to extreme environments (9 reports)

Goal 6: Understand the principles that will shape the future of life, both on Earth and beyond

• Objective 6.1: Environmental changes and the cycling of elements by the biota, communities, and ecosystems (4 reports)
• Objective 6.2: Adaptation and evolution of life beyond Earth (5 reports)

Goal 7: Determine how to recognize signatures of life on other worlds and on early Earth

• Objective 7.1: Biosignatures to be sought in Solar System materials (11 reports)
• Objective 7.2: Biosignatures to be sought in nearby planetary systems (4 reports)