The sulphur dilemma: Are there biosignatures on Europa's icy and patchy surface?

International Journal of Astrobiology

Volumn 5, Issue 1, 2006, Pages 17-22

  Chela Flores, J ^a,b  

^a ABDUS SALAM INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR THEORETICAL PHYSICS   (Italy)

^b Instituto Internacional de Estudios Avanzados IDEA   (Venezuela)

Author keywords

Biogenic signatures; Biogeochemistry; Jupiter's moon Europa; Missions to Europa; Sulphur patches on the Europan surface

Indexed keywords

BIOGEOCHEMISTRY; GALILEO MISSION; SULFUR; VOLCANIC ERUPTION;

BACTERIA (MICROORGANISMS);

EID: 33746396607     PISSN: 14735504     EISSN: 14753006     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S1473550406002862     Document Type: Article

References (37)

1. Bhattacherjee, A.B & Chela-Flores, J. (2004). Search for bacterial waste as a possible signature of life on Europa. In Life in the Universe: Cellular Origin and Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, eds Seckbach, J., Chela-Flores, J., Owen, T. & Raulin, F., vol. 7, pp. 257-260. Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, http://www.ictp.it/~chelaf/ss27.html.
2. Carlson, R.W., Johnson, R.E. & Anderson, M.S. (1999). Sulfuric acid on Europa and the radiolytic sulfur cycle. Science 286, 97-99.
3. Carlson, R.W., Anderson, M.S., Johnson, R.E., Schulman, M.B. & Yavrouian, A.H. (2002). Sulfuric acid production on Europa: The radiolysis of sulfur in water ice. Icarus 157, 456-463.
4. Chela-Flores, J. (2001). The New Science of Astrobiology From Genesis of the Living Cell to Evolution of Intelligent Behavior in the Universe, p. 128. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
5. Chela-Flores, J. (2003). Testing evolutionary convergence on Europa. Int. J. Astrobiol. 2(4), 307-312, http://www.ictp.trieste.it/~chelaf/ss13.html.
6. Cronin, J.R. & Chang, S. (1993). Organic matter in meteorites: Molecular and isotopic analyses of the murchison meteorite. In The Chemistry of Life's Origins, eds Greenberg, J.M., Mendoza-Gomez, C.X. & Piranello, V., pp. 209-258. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
7. Delitsky, M.L. & Lane, A.L. (1998). Ice chemistry on the Galilean satellites. J. Geophys. Res. 103(E13), 31 391-31 403.
8. Doran, P.T., Wharton, R.A. Jr., Berry Lyons, W. (1994). Paleolimnology of the McMurdo dry valleys, Antarctica. J. Paleolimnology 10, 85-114.
9. Ehrenfreund, P. & Charnley, S.B. (2001). From Astrochemistry to Astrobiology (ESA SP, vol. 496), pp. 35-42. European Space Agency.
10. Ellis-Evans, J.C. & Wynn-Williams, D. (1996). A great lake under the ice. Nature 381, 644-646.
11. Fagents, S.A. (2003). Considerations for the effusive cryovolcanism on Europa: The post-Galileo perspective. J. Geophys. Res. 108(E12), 5139, doi: 10.1029/2003JE002128.
12. Fanale, F.P. et al. and the Galileo Instrumentation Teams NIMS, SSI, UVS. (1999). Galileo's multiinstrument spectral view of Europa's surface composition. Icarus 139, 179-188.
13. 36S abundances relative to Canon Diablo Troilite. Lunar Planet. Sci. 36, 2380.
14. Fortes, A.D. (2000). Exobiological implications of a possible ammonia-water ocean inside Titan. Icarus 146, 444-452.
15. Gershman, R., Nilsen, E. & Oberto, R. (2003). Europa lander. Acta Astronautica 52, 253-258.
16. Graps, A.L., Grun, E., Svedhem, H., Kruger, H., Horanyi, M., Heck, A. & Lammers, S. (2000). Io as a source of the Jovian dust streams. Nature 405, 48-50.
17. Grün, E. et al. (1993). Discovery of Jovian dust streams and interstellar grains by the Ulysses spacecraft. Nature 362, 428-430.
18. Johnson, T.V. & McCord, T.B. (1971). Spectral geometric albedo of the Galilean satellites. 0.3 to 2.5 microns. Astrophys. J. 169, 589-594.
19. Kaplan, I.R. (1975). Stable isotopes as a guide to biogeochemical processes. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 189, 183-211.
20. Kargel, J.S., Kaye, J.Z., Head, J.W., III, Marion, G.M., Sassen, R., Crowley, J.K., Ballesteros, O.P., Grant, S.A. & Hogenboom, D.L. (1999). Europa's crust and ocean: Origin, composition, and the prospects for life. Icarus 148, 226-265.
21. Lane, A.L., Nelson, R.M. & Matson, D.L. (1981). Evidence for sulphur implantation in Europa's UV absorption band. Nature 292, 38-39.
22. Libby, W.F. (1971). Terrestrial and meteorite carbon appear to have the same isotopic composition. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 68, 377.
23. McCord, T.B. et al. and the NIMS Team (1998). Non-water-ice constituents in the surface material of the icy Galilean satellites from the Galileo near-infrared mapping spectrometer investigation. J. Geophys. Res. 103(E4), 8603-8626.
24. Messerotti, M. & Chela-Flores, J. (2006). Solar activity and solar weather in the framework of life origin and evolution on Earth. ESA Publication Division, Special Publication, in press.
25. Noll, K.S., Weaver, H.A. & Gonnella, A.M. (1995). The albedo spectrum of Europa from 2200 Angstrom to 3300 Angstrom. J. Geophys. Res. 100 19 057-19 059.
26. Oró, J., Squyres, S.W., Reynolds, R.T. & Mills, T.M. (1992). Europa: prospects for an ocean and exobiological implications. In Exobiology in Solar System Exploration (NASA SP, vol. 512), eds Carle, G.C., Schwartz, D.E. & Huntington, J.L., pp. 103-125. NASA.
27. Parker, B.C., Simmons, G.M. Jr., Wharton, R.A. Jr., Seaburg, K.G. & Love, F.G. (1982). Removal of organic and inorganic matter from Antarctic lakes by aerial escape of blue-green algal mats. J. Phycol. 18, 72-78.
28. Priscu, J.C. et al. (1998). Perennial antarctic lake ice: An oasis for life in a polar desert. Science 280, 2095-2098.
29. Renard, P., Koeck, C., Kemble, S., Atzei, A. & Falkner, P. (2005). System concepts and enabling technologies for an ESA low-cost mission to Jupiter/Europa. In Proc. 55th Int. Astronautical Congress, Vancouver, Canada, 2004.
30. Srama, R. et al. (2004). The Cassini Cosmic Dust Analyzer. Space Science Reviews 114, 465-518.
31. Schidlowski, M., Hayes, J.M. & Kaplan, I.R. (1983a). Isotopic inferences of ancient biochemistries: Carbon, sulfur, hydrogen, and nitrogen. In Earth's Earliest Biosphere its Origin and Evolution, ed. William Schopf, J., p. 153. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
32. Schidlowski, M., Hayes, J.M. & Kaplan, I.R. (1983b). Isotopic inferences of ancient biochemistries: Carbon, sulfur, hydrogen, and nitrogen. In Earth's Earliest Biosphere its Origin and Evolution, ed. William Schopf, J., p. 166. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
33. Sheridan, S., Morse, A.D., Barber, S.J., Wright I.P. & Pillinger, C.T. (2003). EVITA - a miniature mass spectrometer to identify and quantify volatiles evolved from Mercury's regolith. Geophys. Res. Abstracts 5, 09958.
34. Showman, A.P. & Malhotra, R. (1999). The Galilean satellites. Science 286, 77-84.
35. Singer, E. (2003). Vital clues from Europa. New Scientist 2414 (27 September), 23, http://www.newscientist.com/contents/issue/2414.html.
36. Thomson, R.E. & Delaney, J.R. (2001). Evidence for a weakly stratified europan ocean sustained by seafloor heat flux. J. Geophys. Res. 106(E6), 12 355-12 365.
37. Velasco, T., Renton, D., Alonso, J. & Falkner, P. (2005). The Europa Microprobe Mission (EMPIE). 39th ESLAB Symposium on Trends in Space Science and Cosmic Vision 2020. ESA Special Publication SP-588.