TY - CHAP A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Xu, Changsheng A1 - Feldmann, Marco A1 - Plescher, Engelbert A1 - Digel, Ilya A1 - Artmann, Gerhard T1 - Development and testing of a subsurface probe for detection of life in deep ice : [abstract] N2 - We present the novel concept of a combined drilling and melting probe for subsurface ice research. This probe, named “IceMole”, is currently developed, built, and tested at the FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences’ Astronautical Laboratory. Here, we describe its first prototype design and report the results of its field tests on the Swiss Morteratsch glacier. Although the IceMole design is currently adapted to terrestrial glaciers and ice shields, it may later be modified for the subsurface in-situ investigation of extraterrestrial ice, e.g., on Mars, Europa, and Enceladus. If life exists on those bodies, it may be present in the ice (as life can also be found in the deep ice of Earth). KW - Eisschicht KW - Sonde KW - subsurface probe KW - subsurface ice research Y1 - 2011 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Leimena, W. A1 - Artmann, Gerhard A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Temiz Artmann, Aysegül A1 - Gossmann, Matthias A1 - Digel, Ilya T1 - Feasibility of an in-situ microbial decontamination of an ice-melting probe JF - Eurasian Chemico-Technological Journal. 12 (2010), H. 2 Y1 - 2010 SN - 1562-3920 SP - 145 EP - 150 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Digel, Ilya A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Artmann, Gerhard A1 - Linder, Peter A1 - Funke, O. T1 - A concept of a probe for particle analysis and life detection in icy environments N2 - A melting probe equipped with autofluorescence-based detection system combined with a light scattering unit, and, optionally, with a microarray chip would be ideally suited to probe icy environments like Europa’s ice layer as well as the polar ice layers of Earth and Mars for recent and extinct live. KW - Sonde KW - Eisschicht KW - Autofluoreszenzverfahren KW - Lichtstreuungsbasierte Instrumente KW - autofluorescence-based detection system KW - light scattering analysis Y1 - 2009 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Digel, Ilya A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Artmann, Gerhard A1 - Linder, Peter A1 - Funke, O. T1 - A concept of a probe for particle analysis and life detection in icy environments Y1 - 2009 N1 - International workshop “Europa lander: science goals and experiments”, Space Research Institute (IKI), Moscow, Russia 9-13 February 2009 SP - 1 EP - 24 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mikucki, Jill Ann A1 - Schuler, C. G. A1 - Digel, Ilya A1 - Kowalski, Julia A1 - Tuttle, M. J. A1 - Chua, Michelle A1 - Davis, R. A1 - Purcell, Alicia A1 - Ghosh, D. A1 - Francke, G. A1 - Feldmann, M. A1 - Espe, C. A1 - Heinen, Dirk A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Clemens, Joachim A1 - Lyons, W. B. A1 - Tulaczyk, S. T1 - Field-Based planetary protection operations for melt probes: validation of clean access into the blood falls, antarctica, englacial ecosystem JF - Astrobiology N2 - Subglacial environments on Earth offer important analogs to Ocean World targets in our solar system. These unique microbial ecosystems remain understudied due to the challenges of access through thick glacial ice (tens to hundreds of meters). Additionally, sub-ice collections must be conducted in a clean manner to ensure sample integrity for downstream microbiological and geochemical analyses. We describe the field-based cleaning of a melt probe that was used to collect brine samples from within a glacier conduit at Blood Falls, Antarctica, for geomicrobiological studies. We used a thermoelectric melting probe called the IceMole that was designed to be minimally invasive in that the logistical requirements in support of drilling operations were small and the probe could be cleaned, even in a remote field setting, so as to minimize potential contamination. In our study, the exterior bioburden on the IceMole was reduced to levels measured in most clean rooms, and below that of the ice surrounding our sampling target. Potential microbial contaminants were identified during the cleaning process; however, very few were detected in the final englacial sample collected with the IceMole and were present in extremely low abundances (∼0.063% of 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequences). This cleaning protocol can help minimize contamination when working in remote field locations, support microbiological sampling of terrestrial subglacial environments using melting probes, and help inform planetary protection challenges for Ocean World analog mission concepts. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2021.0102 SN - 1557-8070 (online) SN - 153-1074 (print) VL - 23 IS - 11 SP - 1165 EP - 1178 PB - Liebert CY - New York, NY ER -