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"Has there ever been a time when the celestial equator was aligned with the galactic plane?"
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Mars Forward Contamination Studies Utilizing a Mars Environmental Simulation Chamber
Project Investigators: John Kessler, Tullis Onstott, Lisa Pratt
Other Project Members
David Bish (Collaborator)Adam Johnson (Doctoral Student)Jim Brophy (Collaborator)Summary
A variety of microorganisms have been selected for experimental culturing in a Mars environmental simulation chamber. The test organisms are adapted on Earth to desiccation resistance and cold tolerance so they are suitable for exposure to simulated surface conditions on Mars. The test chamber is capable of reproducing temperatures, solar radiation, and atmospheric conditions inferred for Mars. Results from these tests will provide critical information for the design and engineering of sampling and caching equipment on a future mission to sample rocks and sediments on Mars and return those samples to Earth for laboratory study.
Astrobiology Roadmap Objectives:
- Objective 2.1: Mars exploration
- Objective 3.2: Origins and evolution of functional biomolecules
- Objective 3.3: Origins of energy transduction
- Objective 5.1: Environment-dependent, molecular evolution in microorganisms
- Objective 5.2: Co-evolution of microbial communities
- Objective 5.3: Biochemical adaptation to extreme environments
- Objective 6.1: Environmental changes and the cycling of elements by the biota, communities, and ecosystems
- Objective 6.2: Adaptation and evolution of life beyond Earth
- Objective 7.1: Biosignatures to be sought in Solar System materials
Project Progress
Mars Forward Contamination Studies Utilizing a Mars Environmental Simulation Chamber
An award from the 2007 Director’s Discretionary Fund was provided to evaluate forward contamination of terrestrial organisms and molecules into “special regions” on Mars with potential for extant or extinct Martian biota. A variety of microorganisms were selected for Mars environmental simulation on the basis of desiccation resistance and psychrotolerance. The selected microorganisms will be exposed to simulated Martian surface conditions with representative and accurately known temperatures and partial pressure of water. Additionally, these experiments will help to evaluate the influence of long term storage on alteration of organic and inorganic constituents during sample caching on the Martian surface. These results will provide fundamental science for proposed sample caching prior to anticipated Mars Sample Return missions. Lastly, the experiment includes study of methane production from cultured terrestrial permafrost methanogens to determine survival potential at Martian temperatures and atmospheric composition.
In the past twelve months, 24 microbial species, including three nematode species and two species of fungi have been selected for viability at low temperature and resistance to desiccation. These organisms have also been tested for toxicity and survivability when inoculated within our Mars analog regolith simulant (MARS-2) which was developed at Indiana University specifically for use in this culturing study. The regolith is representative of measured elemental compositions for fine grained, weathered Martian basalts and andesitic basalts. Ferric oxides, magnesium sulfates, phyllosilicates, ferric sulfates and clinoptilolite are added to the powdered rock constituents in proportions relevant to surface materials analyzed by the Mars Exploration Rovers. Hardware development for the project has included vacuum canisters for methanogen studies that can tolerate the extreme (100°C) temperature variations within the simulation chamber. These canisters will utilize a Cavity Ring Down Spectrometer to measure methane at simulated Mars temperature and atmospheric conditions. We have tested and purchased a highly sensitive chilled mirror hygrometer that will allow measurements of dewpoints at temperatures below -100°C and water vapor concentrations down to parts-per-billion volume levels within the simulation chamber. The dessication-resistant strains of the following organisms have been selected for the Mars simulation experiment: C. elegans (a psychrotolerant nematode species) Wangiella dermatitidis (a melanin producing fungus), Halorubrum chaoviatoris (a halophilic Archaeon), Methanobacterium bryantii strain M2 (a methanogen isolated from Siberian permafrost), and six psychrotolerant bacterial strains. Naked deoxyribonucleaic acid (DNA) and mixtures of common amino acids will also be added to Indiana Mars regolith and reacted in a Mars environmental chamber at the Techshot engineering company during October and November of 2008.
Mission Involvement
Mars Sample ReturnOver the past two years, discussion of a Mars Sample Return Mission (MSR) has focused on goals related to environmental conditions, climate change, and habitability in addition to the traditional focus on crustal evolution and igneous petrography. This shift in focus is driven by recent discoveries of ices, hydrated minerals, and evaporitic salts on the surface of Mars. The culturing of microorganisms from Earth under experimental conditions that simulate the Mars surface will enable scientists and engineers to prevent contamination of Mars by landed assets and ensure preservation of organisms or organic molecules in Martian samples during sample caching on Mars and transportation back to Earth.MSLConcerns about forward contamination of Mars with microorganisms from Earth are increasingly critical for mission planning. Attempts to culture Earth microorganisms under Mars environmental conditions are needed to assess survivability of intact organisms on spacecraft that land or crash on Mars.Cross-Team Collaborations
Rocco Mancinelli at the SETI Institute, and Lynn Rothchild at NASA Ames are testing the survivability of microorganisms on the Mars regolith simulant that will be used in the chamber experiments. Mancinelli and Rothchild have participated in a series of teleconferences used to constrain the number of organisms and test conditions. Rothchild will travel to Indiana in September of 2008 to participate in the actual loading of regolith and microorganisms into the test chamber at Techshot, Greenfield Indiana.
- 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