Conference Proceeding
Refine
Year of publication
- 2018 (13) (remove)
Document Type
- Conference Proceeding (13) (remove)
Keywords
- Antarctica (1)
- GOSSAMER-1 (1)
- Jupiter (1)
- MASCOT (1)
- Mars (1)
- Planetary exploration (1)
- habitability (1)
- ice moons (1)
- icy moons (1)
- life detection (1)
- multiple NEA rendezvous (1)
- small spacecraft (1)
- solar sail (1)
- space missions (1)
- underwater vehicle (1)
Institute
- Fachbereich Luft- und Raumfahrttechnik (13) (remove)
The search for life on Mars and in the Solar System - strategies, logistics and infrastructures
(2018)
The question "Are we alone in the Universe?" is perhaps the most fundamental one that affects mankind. How can we address the search for life in our Solar System? Mars, Enceladus and Europa are the focus of the search for life outside the terrestrial biosphere. While it is more likely to find remnants of life (fossils of extinct life) on Mars because of its past short time window of the surface habitability, it is probably more likely to find traces of extant life on the icy moons and ocean worlds of Jupiter and Saturn. Nevertheless, even on Mars there could still be a chance to find extant life in niches near to the surface or in just discovered subglacial lakes beneath the South Pole ice cap. Here, the different approaches for the detection of traces of life in the form of biosignatures including pre-biotic molecules will be presented. We will outline the required infrastructure for this enterprise and give examples of future mission concepts to investigate the presence of life on other planets and moons. Finally, we will provide suggestions on methods, techniques, operations and strategies for preparation and realization of future life detection missions.
The quest for life on other planets is closely connected with the search for water in liquid state. Recent discoveries of deep oceans on icy moons like Europa and Enceladus have spurred an intensive discussion about how these waters can be accessed. The challenge of this endeavor lies in the unforeseeable requirements on instrumental characteristics both with respect to the scientific and technical methods. The TRIPLE/nanoAUV initiative is aiming at developing a mission concept for exploring exo-oceans and demonstrating the achievements in an earth-analogue context, exploring the ocean under the ice shield of Antarctica and lakes like Dome-C on the Antarctic continent.