Bioproduction systems that rely on diazotrophic, rock-weathering cyanobacteria for in situ resource utilization have been described as potential ways of increasing the sustainability of crewed missions to Mars. According to this concept, cyanobacteria would be fed with water mined from the ground; carbon and nitrogen sourced from the atmosphere; and the local regolith, from which it has been...
Europa’s hydro- and cryosphere is of primary interest in the quest for habitable environments in the solar system (e.g., Coustenis & Encrenaz et al., 2013). The ice shell, which connects the potential subsurface ocean to the surface, may itself provide niches for life if liquid brine pockets can form and exist for extended periods of time. It is thus crucial to understand the dynamics of the...
Currently we do not yet know, if Earth did have a reducing atmosphere or not during the first few hundreds of Myrs of its history. However, this would have a strong impact, as shown in the Miller-Urey experiment and several follow-up studies, on prebiotic chemistry and therefore possibly the origin of life on Earth.
It has been recently suggested, that rocky planets being more massive than...
