The field of astrobiology aims to understand the origin of life on Earth and searches for evidence of life beyond our planet. Although there is agreement on some of the requirements for life on Earth, the exact process by which life emerged from prebiotic conditions is still uncertain, leading to various theories. In order to expand our knowledge o...
Manuscript and data files published in Earth and Space Science / Establishing plausible routes for the abiotic formation of nucleotides is a challenging problem because the phosphorylation of organic molecules is thermodynamically unfavorable in water, and because common phosphorous-containing minerals such as apatite are highly insoluble. Reaction...
Enceladus, an icy moon of Saturn, possesses an internal water ocean and jets expelling ocean material into space. Cassini investigations indicated that the subsurface ocean could be a habitable environment having a complex interaction with the rocky core. Further investigation of the composition of the plume formed by the jets is necessary to fully...
Microorganisms play a role in the construction or modulation of various types of landforms. They are especially notable for forming microbially induced sedimentary structures (MISS). Such microbial structures have been considered to be among the most likely biosignatures that might be encountered on the martian surface. Twenty-nine algorithms have ...
peer reviewed / If alien probes have colonized the whole galaxy, they could have formed an efficient galactic-scale communication network by establishing direct gravitationally lensed links between neighboring systems. Under this scenario, observing the positions opposite the nearest ecliptic stars represents a promising artifact SETI strategy that...
Published in Astrobiology
The potential energy surface for the formation of protonated uracil (UH+) from urea and HC3O+ was explored by performing quantum chemical complete basis set-QB3 calculations. A barrierless pathway was found for the formation of UH+, which was estimated to occur in the interstellar medium (ISM) much faster than the timescale of chemical revolution o...
Understanding the conditions of habitability and searching for evidence of life beyond Earth are key scientific goals of recent planetary exploration missions on Mars, such as the Mars 2020 and the ExoMars missions. These missions will characterise past aqueous environments of the planet and seek for potential biosignatures using planetary rovers c...
Published in Astrobiology
The NASA Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is currently exploring Jezero crater, a Noachian-Hesperian locality that once hosted a delta-lake system with high habitability and biosignature preservation potential. Perseverance conducts detailed appraisals of rock targets using a synergistic payload capable of geological characterization from kilometer to ...
Now that we know that Earth-like planets are ubiquitous in the universe, as well as that most of them are much older than the Earth, it is justified to ask to what extent evolutionary outcomes on other such planets are similar, or indeed commensurable, to the outcomes we perceive around us. In order to assess the degree of specialty or mediocrity o...
