1. Mars Extant Life: What's Next? Conference Report.
- Author
-
Carrier BL, Beaty DW, Meyer MA, Blank JG, Chou L, DasSarma S, Des Marais DJ, Eigenbrode JL, Grefenstette N, Lanza NL, Schuerger AC, Schwendner P, Smith HD, Stoker CR, Tarnas JD, Webster KD, Bakermans C, Baxter BK, Bell MS, Benner SA, Bolivar Torres HH, Boston PJ, Bruner R, Clark BC, DasSarma P, Engelhart AE, Gallegos ZE, Garvin ZK, Gasda PJ, Green JH, Harris RL, Hoffman ME, Kieft T, Koeppel AHD, Lee PA, Li X, Lynch KL, Mackelprang R, Mahaffy PR, Matthies LH, Nellessen MA, Newsom HE, Northup DE, O'Connor BRW, Perl SM, Quinn RC, Rowe LA, Sauterey B, Schneegurt MA, Schulze-Makuch D, Scuderi LA, Spilde MN, Stamenković V, Torres Celis JA, Viola D, Wade BD, Walker CJ, Wiens RC, Williams AJ, Williams JM, and Xu J
- Subjects
- Caves, Computer Simulation, Ice, Space Flight, Exobiology, Extraterrestrial Environment, Mars
- Abstract
On November 5-8, 2019, the "Mars Extant Life: What's Next?" conference was convened in Carlsbad, New Mexico. The conference gathered a community of actively publishing experts in disciplines related to habitability and astrobiology. Primary conclusions are as follows: A significant subset of conference attendees concluded that there is a realistic possibility that Mars hosts indigenous microbial life. A powerful theme that permeated the conference is that the key to the search for martian extant life lies in identifying and exploring refugia ("oases"), where conditions are either permanently or episodically significantly more hospitable than average. Based on our existing knowledge of Mars, conference participants highlighted four potential martian refugium (not listed in priority order): Caves, Deep Subsurface, Ices, and Salts. The conference group did not attempt to reach a consensus prioritization of these candidate environments, but instead felt that a defensible prioritization would require a future competitive process. Within the context of these candidate environments, we identified a variety of geological search strategies that could narrow the search space. Additionally, we summarized a number of measurement techniques that could be used to detect evidence of extant life (if present). Again, it was not within the scope of the conference to prioritize these measurement techniques-that is best left for the competitive process. We specifically note that the number and sensitivity of detection methods that could be implemented if samples were returned to Earth greatly exceed the methodologies that could be used at Mars. Finally, important lessons to guide extant life search processes can be derived both from experiments carried out in terrestrial laboratories and analog field sites and from theoretical modeling.
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF