DIX Planetary Science Seminar

The search for evidence of extant and extinct biology in hypersaline brine and hydrated salt mineral environments can be difficult due to needing to decipher biogenic and biotic components from organic and mineral substrates. This problem persists in Martian settings (RSLs, hydrated mineral veins, etc.) where the burden of proof for life is higher. Terrestrial extreme environments typically have the benefit of microbial ecology alongside geobiological assessments but for life detection on rocky planets and icy worlds this evidence typically can be limited and other geobiological means need to be employed. The purpose of this talk is three-fold. First, I will discuss our biosignature and biomarker validation lab investigations in Mars analog environments and how they bridge the fundamental research gaps from the lab to the field and eventually into the subsurface of Mars. Second, I will highlight the hypersaline brine planetary analog field sites that have examples of halophilic entombment over geologic time with applications to the Mars subsurface and Ocean Worlds. Lastly, I will close with the status of our Mars geobiology lander mission concept that seeks to explore buried evaporite minerals and frozen brines in the Mars subsurface.