Alfonso Davila

Chance and necessity in biochemistry: implications for the search for extraterrestrial biomarkers in Earth-like environm...

Published in International Journal of Astrobiology

In this paper, we examine a restricted subset of the question of possible alien biochemistries. That is, we look into how different life might be if it emerged in environments similar to that required for life on Earth. We advocate a principle of chance and necessity in biochemistry. According to this principle, biochemistry is in some fundamental ...

The high elevation Dry Valleys in Antarctica as analog sites for subsurface ice on Mars

Published in Planetary and Space Science

The high elevation valleys of the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica are the only locations on Earth known to contain dry permafrost. The Dry Valleys are a hyper-arid polar desert environment and above 1500 m elevation, air temperatures do not exceed 0 C and thus, similarly to Mars, liquid water is largely absent and instead the hydrologic cycle is ...

Salt deliquescence drives photosynthesis in the hyperarid Atacama Desert

Published in Environmental Microbiology Reports

Deliquescence-Driven Brine Formation In The Atacama Desert, Chile: Implications For Liquid Water At The Martian Surface

Dehydration-Rehydration Experiments With Cl Salts Mixed Into Mars Analog Materials And The Effects On Their Vnir Spectra...

Using A Reverse Osmosis Reactor To Model The Crystallization Of Secondary Minerals In Mars During Long-Term Evaporation ...

LunarVader: Testing of a 1 meter lunar drill in a 3.5 meter vacuum chamber and in the Antarctic lunar analog site

—In this paper we report on the development of a rotary-percussive sampling drill, LunarVader. The purpose of the drill is to penetrate at least 1 meter in icy-regolith and acquire sub-surface sample for science analysis and for the In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). The drill was tested in a lunar analog site of the Ross Island, in the Antarctic...

The Dry Limit of Photosynthesis on Earth and the Possibility of Life on Mars

Mission Concept to Enable Science and In Situ Resource Utilization of Mid-Latitude Ice on Mars. Lunar and Planetary Inst...