Microorganisms on comets, Europa, and the polar ice caps of Mars

Richard B. Hoover; Elena V. Pikuta

doi:10.1117/12.513432

10 February 2004 Microorganisms on comets, Europa, and the polar ice caps of Mars

Richard B. Hoover, Elena V. Pikuta

Proceedings Volume 5163, Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology VII; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.513432
Event: Optical Science and Technology, SPIE's 48th Annual Meeting, 2003, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Microbial extremophiles live on Earth wherever there is liquid water and a source of energy. Observations by ground-based observatories, space missions, and satellites have provided strong evidence that water ice exists today on comets, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede and in the snow, permafrost, glaciers and polar ice caps of Mars. Studies of the cryoconite pools and ice bubble systems of Antarctica suggest that solar heating of dark rocks entrained in ice can cause localized melting of ice providing ideal conditions for the growth of microbial communities with the creation of micro-environments where trapped metabolic gasses produce entrained isolated atmospheres as in the Antarctic ice-bubble systems. It is suggested that these considerations indicate that several groups of microorganisms should be capable of episodic growth within liquid water envelopes surrounding dark rocks in cometary ices and the permafrost and polar caps of Mars. We discuss some of the types of microorganisms we have encountered within the permafrost and snow of Siberia, the cryoconite pools of Alaska, and frozen deep within the Antarctic ice sheet above Lake Vostok.

Citation Download Citation

Richard B. Hoover and Elena V. Pikuta "Microorganisms on comets, Europa, and the polar ice caps of Mars", Proc. SPIE 5163, Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology VII, (10 February 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.513432

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