Space Station Viewed as Astrobiology Research Site

Apr 6, 2011 | Ask the Expert, Blog, Comets, Education Station, Exploration, International Cooperation, International Space Station, Kids Space, Mars, NASA, Space and Science

Space station research includes experiments to help look for life elsewhere. Credit: NASA

 

The nearly complete International Space Station (ISS) is a research hub for various disciplines – including astrobiology and the search for life elsewhere.

Gerda Horneck of the German Aerospace Center in Köln, Germany has outlined a number of astrobiology research tracks that make use of the ISS.

“The environment of the ISS comprises a complex spectrum of physical parameters that are not experienced on Earth and that are of high interest to astrobiology,” explains Horneck. Exposure facilities onboard the ISS “have provided unique opportunities to study biological and chemical processes in response to those parameters directly in Earth orbit.”

Habitability of Mars

Horneck is on tap to attend the upcoming 18th International Academy of Astronautics Humans in Space Symposium to be held April 11-15 in Houston.

By making use of the ISS, Horneck will report, a better understanding has been reached:

  • on the role of interstellar, cometary and planetary chemistry in the origin of life.
  • on chemical processes on other planets, e.g. Saturn’s moon Titan, and possible analogies to the prebiotic chemistry on the early Earth.
  • on the role of the ozone layer in protecting our biosphere.
  • on the likelihood of the interplanetary transfer of life via meteorites, i.e. the hypothesis of lithopanspermia.
  • on the chances of survival of terrestrial microorganisms in outer space, e.g. on a trip to Mars, leading to the formulation of planetary protection requirements.
  • on the habitability of Mars by exposing biological samples to simulated Martian conditions (UV-radiation climate, pressure, atmosphere) with and without a protective cover of simulated Martian regolith, leading to the formulation of “search for life” experiments on exploratory missions.

 

Horneck points out that the European Space Agency (ESA) has developed a variety of astrobiology facilities (BIOPAN, STONE, EXPOSEE, EXPOSE-R, EXPOSE-R2) to be attached to Earth orbiting satellites and the ISS.

“For the next generation of test facilities on board of the ISS,” she explains, “further sophisticated analytical devices are considered for real-time in-situ monitoring of the phenomena and their kinetics in responses to the parameters of space.”

Next week’s 18th International Academy of Astronautics Humans in Space Symposium is hosted by the University of Houston and NASA.

By Leonard David