Strategies of Life Detection

ISBN-13: 9781441945938 / Angielski / Miękka / 2010 / 382 str.

Oliver Botta; Jeffrey Bada; Javier Gomez Elvira

Opis

J. L. Bada.J. Gomez-Elvira.E. Javaux.M. Rosing. F. Selsis.R. Summons.R. M. Bonnet.O. Botta Originally published in the journal Space Science Reviews, Volume 135, Nos 1 4. DOI: 10. 1007/s11214-008-9328-1 (c) Springer Science+Business Media B. V. 2008 Twooftheoverarchingquestionsaskedinthepursuitofscienti c knowledgeare: (1)Isthere life outside the Earth? and (2) How did life originate on the Earth? Not coincidently, these questions are major milestones on the roadmap of the new interdisciplinary science eld of Astrobiology. A signi cant part in the quest for answers to these questions requires the involvement of space exploration, either in the form of the deployment of planetary probes to various target objects in the Solar System or of the construction of large telescopes and spectrometers in various orbits around the Earth or the Sun. It does not come as a surprise that space agencies such as NASA or ESA have established programs in support of these missions as well as the development of instruments. In the case of planetary probes, which in the current epoch are mainly focusing on the exploration of Mars, but also include missions to asteroids and comets, the development of in-situ instruments to search for traces of past J. L. Bada Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, La Jolla, CA, USA J. Gomez-Elvira Centro de Astrobiologia (INTA-CSIC), Madrid, Spain E. Javaux University of Liege, Liege, Belgium M. Rosing Geological Museum Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark F. Selsis University of Lyon, Lyon, France R. Summons Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA R. M. Bonnet. O."

Recenzje

From the reviews:

"This is a collection of papers from the International Space Science Institute workshop ... . The book is well laid out, with uniformity in style, clear tables and illustrations, several of which are in colour. ... Each paper has an abstract and a full set of references. ... this book is likely to grace the shelves of university libraries and specialists in astrobiology, but it is of interest to anyone with a strong fascination ... . I certainly recommend it." (Barrie W. Jones, Contemporary Physics, Vol. 51 (4), 2010)

Spis treści

Foreword.- Towards a Definition of Life: The Impossible Quest?.- Infrared Spectroscopy of Solar-System Planets.- Extraterrestrial Organic Matter and the Detection of Life.- Astrobiology and Habitability of Titan.- An Approach to Searching for Life on Mars, Europa, and Enceladus.- Accretion, Trapping and Binding of Sediment in Archean Stromatolites—Morphological Expression of the Antiquity of Life.- Biogenerated Rock Structures.- Morphological Biosignatures in Early Terrestrial and Extraterrestrial Materials.- Gene Transfer and the Reconstruction of Life’s Early History from Genomic Data.- Molecular Biosignatures.- Fossil Lipids for Life-Detection: A Case Study from the Early Earth Record.- Chirality and Life.- Multiple-Sulphur Isotope Biosignatures.- Stable Isotope Ratios as a Biomarker on Mars.- Viking Biology Experiments: Lessons Learned and the Role of Ecology in Future Mars Life-Detection Experiments.- Morphological Biosignatures from Subsurface Environments: Recognition on Planetary Missions.- Exploration of the Habitability of Mars: Development of Analytical Protocols for Measurement of Organic Carbon on the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory.- Urey: Mars Organic and Oxidant Detector.- Raman Spectroscopy—A Powerful Tool for in situ Planetary Science.- Protein Microarrays-Based Strategies for Life Detection in Astrobiology.- On the “Galactic Habitable Zone”.- Earthshine Observation of Vegetation and Implication for Life Detection on Other Planets.- Searching for Signs of Life in the Reflected Light from Exoplanets: A Catalog of Nearby Target Stars.- Exoplanet Transit Spectroscopy and Photometry.- Future Space Missions to Search for Terrestrial Planets.- “Strategies of Life Detection”: Summary and Outlook.

Blurb

The search for life outside the Earth has been one of mankind's most challenging quests. We have reached a level of technology that allows for initial steps toward thorough scientific investigation. The aim of this workshop was to take an interdisciplinary look at the signatures that would be indicative of past or present life on another planet and compare them to biosignatures on Earth.

The purpose of the workshop was also to discuss state-of-the-art in-situ instruments that are envisioned to search for these signatures in the exploration of the solar system, as well as the discussion of concepts descriptive of the search for habitable planets around other stars.

This book is intended to provide a reference to scientists and instrument developers working in the field of in-situ and remote life detection. It can also be used as an interdisciplinary introduction for students and post-doctoral researchers entering this new and exciting field.