Journal
ADVANCES IN SPACE RESEARCH
Volume 48, Issue 4, Pages 678-688Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.asr.2010.11.010
Keywords
Astrobiology; Biomarker; Biosignature; Europa; Habitability; Life
Categories
Funding
- Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion [FIS2009-08257-E, ESP2006-06640, AYA2008-04013]
- European Union
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Planned future exploration missions to the Jovian satellite Europa have a strong astrobiological motivation. Characterization of the potential habitability of the liquid water environments, and searching for life signals are the main astrobiological objectives of these missions. To meet these objectives specific strategies and instrumentation are required. Here we discuss some scenarios for the development of Europa potential biospheres. These scenarios are based on assumptions of the life similarity concept and knowledge about terrestrial life in extreme environments. Since the potential habitable environments on Europa are in the interior of the satellite it is not possibly to directly detect life. However, there are processes that link aqueous sub-surface environments with the near-surface environment, such as tectonism or magmatism. Therefore, by analysing endogenous materials that arise from the interior it is possible to make predictions about what is in the sub-surface. We propose some measurements and instrumentation for future missions to detect biosignatures on the upper layers of Europa, including the simple physico-chemical traces of metabolism to complex biomolecules or biostructures. Raman spectroscopy or biosensor technologies are the future for in situ exploration of the Solar System. (C) 2010 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available