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Abstract

The search for life in our Solar System is central to current and future missions to Mars and the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn (Mars2020, ExoMars, Europa Clipper). New instruments, for space exploration, have been sent to Mars on recent rover missions, such as Raman spectrometers, well suited for the fast and non-destructive identification of biomolecules embedded in minerals. And two missions en route to Jupiter will teach us more about the environment and potential organic content of Europa’s ocean. However, little is known about the stability of putative biosignatures in the Martian or space environment. For the last 10 years at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Berlin, we addressed this knowledge gap by integrating terrestrial analogue investigations, simulation experiments replicating planetary surface conditions, and exposure studies in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). While extreme environments on Earth inform our understanding of habitability, biosignatures diversity, and detection strategies, simulation chambers and irradiation experiments allow us to push further the limits of life and its constituents. Yet, only orbital exposure in LEO can capture the full spectrum of extraterrestrial stressors. Following the success of BIOMEX on EXPOSE-R2, we are now preparing the ESA space experiment BioSigN to advance the detectability of biosignatures and evaluate the potential habitability of Mars and the ocean worlds of our Solar System. In parallel, the Space Agency of DLR is also preparing a new class of missions to these bodies, the VaMEx and TRIPLE projects, which will benefit greatly from our understanding about the limits of life as we know it and how to detect it.
 
 

Short CV Mickaël Baqué, PhD

After a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology (astrobiology), Mickaël Baqué joined the Institute for Planetary Research at DLR Berlin, in October 2015, for a postdoctoral position with an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship. Then, as researcher in the Planetary Laboratories Department (PLL), he became responsible of the Raman laboratory and of the Planetary Analogue Simulation laboratory (PASLAB), as well as co-principal investigator of ESA’s BioSigN space experiment (Biosignatures and habitable niches). He is now pursuing a research project at Uni Bremen on new robotic exploration mission VaMEx (Valles Marineris Explorer). His research focuses on combining field studies, laboratory simulation experiments, and space experiments to tackle the topics of habitability and life detection (biosignatures).

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