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A rock-dwelling community from cliffs in Beer, UK was exposed to 10 days of LEO as part of the BI... more A rock-dwelling community from cliffs in Beer, UK was exposed to 10 days of LEO as part of the BIOPAN VI mission. An extremophilic cyanobacterium, which was identified as a member of the order Chroococcales was isolated after exposure.
Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres
As a response to ESA call for mission concepts for its Cosmic Vision 2015?2025 plan, we propose a... more As a response to ESA call for mission concepts for its Cosmic Vision 2015?2025 plan, we propose a mission called ensuremath Darwinensuremath<?iensuremath>. Its primary goal is the study of terrestrial extrasolar planets and the search for life on them. In this paper, we describe different characteristics of the instrument.
Geochmica et Cosmochimica Acta
Microbial activity has been linked to volcanic rock weathering. It is thought that the process is... more Microbial activity has been linked to volcanic rock weathering. It is thought that the process is generally driven by the nutrient requirement of the microbial community and occurs as a result of the sequestration of bioessential elements. Although we know that metabolising bacteria influence rock weathering, the molecular processes invloved are unknown. For the first time, we have used DNA microarray technology to investigate the genes involved in weathering, in particular the sequestering of iron using the heavy metal resistant bacterium, Cupriavidus metallidurans CH34. Extensive studies have characterized the heavy metal resistant and iron uptake mechanisms of this bacterium.Microarray analysis demonstrated that siderophore genes were not differentially expressed when grown in MM284 (iron-limited) with basalt. This was in concurrence with siderophore measurements using the CAS assay. Instead, a large number of porins and membrane transporters in concomitantly with genes associate...
The scientific objectives of the 2018 ExoMars rover mission are to search for traces of past or p... more The scientific objectives of the 2018 ExoMars rover mission are to search for traces of past or present life and to characterise the near-sub surface. Both objectives require study of the rock/regolith materials in terms of structure, textures, mineralogy, and elemental and organic composition. The 2018 ExoMars rover payload consists of a suite of complementary instruments designed to reach these objectives. CLUPI, the high-performance colour close up imager, on board the 2018 ExoMars Rover plays an important role in attaining the mission objectives: it is the equivalent of the hand lens that no geologist is without when undertaking field work. CLUPI is a powerful, highly integrated miniaturized (<700g) low-power robust imaging system, able to operate at very low temperatures (-120°C). CLUPI has a working distance from 10cm to infinite providing outstanding pictures with a color detector of 2652x1768. At 10cm, the resolution is 7 micrometer/pixel in color. The optical-mechanical ...
Of the 34 meteorites from Mars, none are sedimentary although sediments exist in abundance on the... more Of the 34 meteorites from Mars, none are sedimentary although sediments exist in abundance on the planet. The STONE experiments aim at testing the survivability of different types of analogue martian sediments during entry into the Earth's atmosphere. The rocks are fixed into the heat shield of a FOTON re-entry vehicle around the ablation point and undergo entry speeds of about 7.6 km/s (meteorite entry speeds are slightly higher, at 12-15 km/s). Previous STONE experiments have proven the survivability of dolomite and sandstone through atmospheric passage (STONE 1 and STONE 5). The STONE 6 experiment included an Early Archaean chert (3.446 Ga) from the Pilbara containing cryptic traces of fossil life (microfossils, C isotopes) (N.B. this sample is a good sedimentary Noachian Mars analogue], a Devonian laminite (mudstone) from the Orkneys (Fig 1e), and an Eocene basalt from Austria. A culture of a modern endolithic microorganism, Chroococcidiopsis, was smeared on the back side an...
The STONE 6 experiment demonstrated the survivability of carbonaceous and microfossiliferous mart... more The STONE 6 experiment demonstrated the survivability of carbonaceous and microfossiliferous martian analogue sediments during atmospheric re-entry. Doped endoliths died but their carbonised cells remained.
Shock recovery experiments on a Martian analogue rock (gabbro) loaded with three types of microor... more Shock recovery experiments on a Martian analogue rock (gabbro) loaded with three types of microorganisms reveal that these organisms survive the impact and ejection phase on Mars at shock pressures up to about 50 GPa with exponentially decreasing survival rates.
Icarus
Astronomy & Geophysics, 2015
Because of the lack of recent plate tectonics, the surface of Mars has abundant, well-preserved i... more Because of the lack of recent plate tectonics, the surface of Mars has abundant, well-preserved impact structures. Impact structures can localize water in a number of ways including: 1) circulation of water into hydrothermal systems, 2) ponding of water in the hydrologic depression of the crater. This ponding can occur because of excavation below the water table, filling of the
Because of the lack of recent plate tectonics, the surface of Mars has abundant, well-preserved i... more Because of the lack of recent plate tectonics, the surface of Mars has abundant, well-preserved impact structures. Impact structures can localize water in a number of ways including: 1) circulation of water into hydrothermal systems, 2) ponding of water in the hydrologic depression of the crater. This ponding can occur because of excavation below the water table, filling of the
A rock-dwelling community from cliffs in Beer, UK was exposed to 10 days of LEO as part of the BI... more A rock-dwelling community from cliffs in Beer, UK was exposed to 10 days of LEO as part of the BIOPAN VI mission. An extremophilic cyanobacterium, which was identified as a member of the order Chroococcales was isolated after exposure.
Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres
As a response to ESA call for mission concepts for its Cosmic Vision 2015?2025 plan, we propose a... more As a response to ESA call for mission concepts for its Cosmic Vision 2015?2025 plan, we propose a mission called ensuremath Darwinensuremath<?iensuremath>. Its primary goal is the study of terrestrial extrasolar planets and the search for life on them. In this paper, we describe different characteristics of the instrument.
Geochmica et Cosmochimica Acta
Microbial activity has been linked to volcanic rock weathering. It is thought that the process is... more Microbial activity has been linked to volcanic rock weathering. It is thought that the process is generally driven by the nutrient requirement of the microbial community and occurs as a result of the sequestration of bioessential elements. Although we know that metabolising bacteria influence rock weathering, the molecular processes invloved are unknown. For the first time, we have used DNA microarray technology to investigate the genes involved in weathering, in particular the sequestering of iron using the heavy metal resistant bacterium, Cupriavidus metallidurans CH34. Extensive studies have characterized the heavy metal resistant and iron uptake mechanisms of this bacterium.Microarray analysis demonstrated that siderophore genes were not differentially expressed when grown in MM284 (iron-limited) with basalt. This was in concurrence with siderophore measurements using the CAS assay. Instead, a large number of porins and membrane transporters in concomitantly with genes associate...
The scientific objectives of the 2018 ExoMars rover mission are to search for traces of past or p... more The scientific objectives of the 2018 ExoMars rover mission are to search for traces of past or present life and to characterise the near-sub surface. Both objectives require study of the rock/regolith materials in terms of structure, textures, mineralogy, and elemental and organic composition. The 2018 ExoMars rover payload consists of a suite of complementary instruments designed to reach these objectives. CLUPI, the high-performance colour close up imager, on board the 2018 ExoMars Rover plays an important role in attaining the mission objectives: it is the equivalent of the hand lens that no geologist is without when undertaking field work. CLUPI is a powerful, highly integrated miniaturized (<700g) low-power robust imaging system, able to operate at very low temperatures (-120°C). CLUPI has a working distance from 10cm to infinite providing outstanding pictures with a color detector of 2652x1768. At 10cm, the resolution is 7 micrometer/pixel in color. The optical-mechanical ...
Of the 34 meteorites from Mars, none are sedimentary although sediments exist in abundance on the... more Of the 34 meteorites from Mars, none are sedimentary although sediments exist in abundance on the planet. The STONE experiments aim at testing the survivability of different types of analogue martian sediments during entry into the Earth's atmosphere. The rocks are fixed into the heat shield of a FOTON re-entry vehicle around the ablation point and undergo entry speeds of about 7.6 km/s (meteorite entry speeds are slightly higher, at 12-15 km/s). Previous STONE experiments have proven the survivability of dolomite and sandstone through atmospheric passage (STONE 1 and STONE 5). The STONE 6 experiment included an Early Archaean chert (3.446 Ga) from the Pilbara containing cryptic traces of fossil life (microfossils, C isotopes) (N.B. this sample is a good sedimentary Noachian Mars analogue], a Devonian laminite (mudstone) from the Orkneys (Fig 1e), and an Eocene basalt from Austria. A culture of a modern endolithic microorganism, Chroococcidiopsis, was smeared on the back side an...
The STONE 6 experiment demonstrated the survivability of carbonaceous and microfossiliferous mart... more The STONE 6 experiment demonstrated the survivability of carbonaceous and microfossiliferous martian analogue sediments during atmospheric re-entry. Doped endoliths died but their carbonised cells remained.
Shock recovery experiments on a Martian analogue rock (gabbro) loaded with three types of microor... more Shock recovery experiments on a Martian analogue rock (gabbro) loaded with three types of microorganisms reveal that these organisms survive the impact and ejection phase on Mars at shock pressures up to about 50 GPa with exponentially decreasing survival rates.
Icarus
Astronomy & Geophysics, 2015
Because of the lack of recent plate tectonics, the surface of Mars has abundant, well-preserved i... more Because of the lack of recent plate tectonics, the surface of Mars has abundant, well-preserved impact structures. Impact structures can localize water in a number of ways including: 1) circulation of water into hydrothermal systems, 2) ponding of water in the hydrologic depression of the crater. This ponding can occur because of excavation below the water table, filling of the
Because of the lack of recent plate tectonics, the surface of Mars has abundant, well-preserved i... more Because of the lack of recent plate tectonics, the surface of Mars has abundant, well-preserved impact structures. Impact structures can localize water in a number of ways including: 1) circulation of water into hydrothermal systems, 2) ponding of water in the hydrologic depression of the crater. This ponding can occur because of excavation below the water table, filling of the