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EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE – BEYOND OUR EXPECTATIONS?

Vienna, Austria, May 21-22, 2012

http://www.univie.ac.at/eph/exolife

Extraterrestrial Life – Beyond Our Expectations? May 21 – 22, 2012

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Sponsors


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Contents

Program 5

Abstracts 9

Oral Presentations 9

Poster 25

Participants 31

Practical Information 38

How to reach the hotel “Hotel am Konzerthaus” and the ESPI 38

Internet access at ESPI 39

Lunch 39

Workshop Dinner 39

Notes 40


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Workshop on

EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE – BEYOND OUR

EXPECTATIONS?

Vienna, Austria, May 21-22, 2012

Scientific Organizing Committee

Maria G. Firneis, Research Platform: ExoLife / Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria

Regina Hitzenberger, Research Platform: ExoLife / Aerosol Physics and Environmental Physics Group, Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, Austria

Johannes J. Leitner, Research Platform: ExoLife / Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria

David Neubauer, Research Platform: ExoLife / Aerosol Physics and Environmental Physics Group, Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, Austria

Local Organizing Committee

Johannes Leitner, Research Platform: ExoLife / Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria

Ruth-Sophie Taubner, Research Platform: ExoLife / Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria

Biljana Bogdanov, Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria

Elisabeth Fahrngruber, Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria

Manfred Gold, Research Platform: ExoLife / Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria

Gabor Kiss, Research Platform: ExoLife / Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria

Isabella Kraus, Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria

Matthias Kühtreiber, Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria

Martin Parapatits, Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria

Clara Pernold, Faculty for Biology, University of Vienna, Austria

Karin Rainer, Research Platform: ExoLife / Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria

Patricia Trinkl, Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria


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Program Monday, May 21, 2012 .

08.30 Registration

09.15 Welcome Peter Hulsroj, Director of the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) Maria Firneis, Chair of the Research Platform: ExoLife, University of Vienna

09.30 Introduction: Extraterrestrial Life – Beyond our Expectations? Maria Firneis (University of Vienna, Austria)

Session 1: External Influences on Extrasolar Planetary Habitability

Chair: Maria Firneis (University of Vienna, Austria)

10.00 Keynote: Pathways to Earth-Like Nitrogen Atmospheres: Implications for the Search for Exo-Earth Helmut Lammer (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria) et al.

10.35 Coffee break

10.55 The Role of Stellar Plasma Interaction in the Evolution of Earth-Like Habitats Kristina Kislyakova (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria) et al.

11.15 On the Habitability of the Earth in Jupiter-Saturn Like Configurations Elke Pilat-Lohinger (University of Vienna, Austria)

11.35 On Classical Habitable Zones in Binary Star Systems Siegfried Eggl (University of Vienna, Austria) et al.

11.55 Lunch

Session 2: The Limits of Classical Habitability and Life

Chair: Helmut Lammer (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria)

13.20 Keynote: Assessing Planetary Habitability: Don't Forget Exotic Life! Dirk Schulze-Makuch (Washington State University, USA)

13.55 Invited talk: Microscopic Liquid Subsurface Water in Cold Planetary Surfaces Diedrich Möhlmann (German Aerospace Centre, Germany)

14.15 The Life Supporting Zone of Kepler-22b and the Kepler Planetary Candidates: KOI268.01, KOI701.03, KOI854.01 and KOI1026.01

David Neubauer (University of Vienna, Austria) et al.

14.35 Compartmentalisation Strategies for Hydrocarbon-based Biota on Titan Lucy Norman (University College London, UK) et al.

14.55 Possible Signs of Life on Venus Leonid Ksanfomality (Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia)

15.15 Coffee break and poster session


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Session 3: Actual Topics in Astrobiology

Chair: Dirk Schulze-Makuch (Washington State University, USA)

16.00 Keynote: Panspermia Revisited Gerda Horneck (German Aerospace Centre, Germany)

16.35 Photosynthetic Activity and Adaptation Capacities of Lichens and Cyanobacteria to Martian Surface Conditions Jean-Pierre de Vera (German Aerospace Centre, Germany) et al.

16.55 Results From a Crewed Mars Exploration Simulation at the Rio Tinto Analogue Site Reinhard Tlustos and G.E. Groemer (Austrian Space Forum, Austria)

17.15 On the Role of Pressure in the Origin of Life and the influence on astrobiology Richard Schwarz (University of Vienna, Austria) and R. Hatzenpichler (California Institute of Technology, USA)

17.35 End of the first day

18.30 Meeting time for the workshop dinner

Posters:

Flare Activity and UV Habitability in Extrasolar Planets Ximena Abrevaya (Institute of Astronomy and Space Physics, Argentina) et al.

Ultraviolet and Liquid Water Habitable Zones of Planetary Systems Vera Dobos (Eötvös University, Hungary) et al.

Influence of Viscosity on Magnetic Field Generation in Super-Earths Manfred Gold (University of Vienna, Austria) et al.

Information Fluxes as Concept for Categorizations of Life Georg Hildenbrand and Michael Hausmann (Kirchhoff-Institute for Physics, Germany)

How Can We Detect Life When We Cannot Define It in a General Way? Johannes Leitner and M.G. Firneis (University of Vienna, Austria)

Homochirality and the origin of life Robert Pohl (University of Vienna, Austria) et al.

Nebula-based Primordial Atmospheres of Planets Around Solar-Like Stars Revised Manuel Scherf (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria) et al.

Probing the Habitability of Exo-Moons of Gas Giants in Orbits Within the Habitable Zone Sonja Schiefer (University of Graz, Austria) et al.

Subsurface Oceans on Icy Solar System Bodies and their Impacts on Astrobiology Ruth-Sophie Taubner (University of Vienna, Austria) et al.

Miller-Urey Experiments to Assess the Production of Amino Acids under Impact Conditions on Early Titan Carol Turse (Washington State University, USA) et al. (Dirk Schulze-Makuch)


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Tuesday, May 22, 2012 .

Session 4: Extrasolar Planets and Biosignatures

Chair: Gerda Horneck (German Aerospace Centre, Germany)

09.00 Keynote: SuperEarths and Life – Characterizing a Habitable Exoplanet Lisa Kaltenegger (MPI Astronomy, Germany)

09.35 The Earth as a Benchmark: Spectropolarimetry Unveils Strong Bio-Signatures Michael Sterzik (LaSilla Paranal Observatory, ESO, Chile) et al.

09.55 NASA’s Kepler Mission and the Quest for Other Earths Michael Endl (McDonald Observatory, University of Texas, USA)

10.15 Coffee break

10.35 Detection of the Water Maser Line at 1.35 cm in Exoplanetary Systems Christiano Cosmovici (IAPS/INAF, Italy) et al.

10.55 From Satellite Remote Sensing of the Earth to Non-Invasive Diagnostics of Skin Cancer Knut Stamnes (Stevens Institute of Technology, USA)

11.15 Taxonomy of the Extra-Solar Planets Eva Plávalová (Comenius University, Slovakia)

11.35 Lunch

Session 5: The Influence of Potential Extraterrestrial Life on Religion and Philosophical/Sociological Aspects of Astrobiology

Chair: Lisa Kaltenegger (MPI Astronomy, Germany)

13.00 Keynote: Theological Consequences of the Potential Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life Jose Funes (Vatican Observatory, Vatican)

13.35 The Implications of the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life for Religion and Theology Ted Peters (Graduate Theological Union, USA)

13.55 Impacts of Philosophy and Theology on the Discussions Concerning the Existence of ExoLife and Vice Versa Ludwik Kostro (University of Gdańsk, Poland)

14.15 The Ethical Implications for Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life Jill Stuart (London School of Economics, UK)

14.35 What is Life? Phenomenology versus Essentialism Jean Schneider (LUTh/Paris Observatory, France)

14.55 Coffee break

Session 6: Searching for Extraterrestrial Intelligence and Communication

Chair: Jose Funes (Vatican Observatory, Vatican)

15.15 Modelling Evolution and SETI Mathematically Claudio Maccone (International Academy of Astronautics, Italy)


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15.35 Science From Beyond: NASA's Pioneer Plaque and the History of Interstellar Communication, 1957-1972 William Macauley (Freie Universität Berlin, Germany)

15.55 The Evolutionary Epistemics of Contact Claudio Flores Martinez (University of Heidelberg, Germany)

16.15 End of the workshop

16.45 Possibility for a guided tour through the Museum for Astronomy at the Institute for Astronomy, University of Vienna


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Abstracts

Session 1: External Influences on Extra-Solar Planetary Habitability

Keynote: Pathways to Earth-Like Nitrogen Atmospheres: Implications for the Search for Exo-Earth

LAMMER HELMUT1, Kislyakova K. G.1,2,3, Odert P.2, Leitzinger M.2, Schwarz R.4, Pilat-Lohinger E.4, Güdel

M.4, Khodachenko M. L.1, Kulikov Yu. N.5, Hanslmeier A.2

1Austrian Academy of Sciences, Space Research Institute, Graz, Austria

2Institute for Physics/IGAM, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 5, A-8010 Graz, Austria

3N. I. Lobachevsky State University, University of Nizhnij Novgorod, 603950 Nizhnij Novgorod, Russian Federation

4Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Türkenschanzstr. 17, 1180, Austria

5Polar Geophysical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 183010 Murmansk, Khalturina Str. 15, Russian Federation

We discuss the evolution of the atmosphere of early Earth and of terrestrial exoplanets which may be capable of sustaining liquid water oceans and continents where life may originate. The formation age of a terrestrial planet, its mass and size, as well as the lifetime in the EUV-saturated early phase of its host star play a significant role in its atmosphere evolution. We show that planets even in orbits within the habitable zone of their host stars might not lose nebular- or catastrophically outgassed initial protoatmospheres completely and could end up as water worlds with CO2 and hydrogen- or oxygen-rich upper atmospheres. If an atmosphere of a terrestrial planet evolves to an N2-rich atmosphere too early in its lifetime, the atmosphere may be lost. We show that the initial conditions set up by the formation of a terrestrial planet and by the evolution of the host star’s EUV and plasma environment are very important factors owing to which a planet may evolve to a habitable world.

The Role of Stellar Plasma Interaction in the Evolution of Earth-Like Habitats

KISLYAKOVA KRISTINA1,2,3, Lammer H.1, Holmström M.4, Erkaev N. V.5, Odert, P.2, Gröller H.1,

Khodachenko M. L.1, Kulikov Yu. N.6, Hanslmeier A.2

1Austrian Academy of Sciences, Space Research Institute, Graz (Austria)

2Institute for Physics/IGAM, University of Graz (Austria)

3N. I. Lobachevsky State University, University of Nizhnij Novgorod (Russian Federation)

4Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Kiruna (Sweden)

5Institute of Computational Modelling, Siberian Division of Russian Academy of Sciences Akademgorodok, Krasnoyarsk (Russian Federation)

6Polar Geophysical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Murmansk (Russian Federation)

The detection of EUV heated extended and non-hydrostatic upper atmospheres around Earth-like exoplanets would provide important insights into the evolution of terrestrial planetary atmospheres and their possible magnetic environments. Different scenarios where one can expect that Earth-like planets should experience non-hydrostatic upper atmosphere conditions so that dynamically outward flowing neutral atoms can interact with the stellar plasma flow and huge hydrogen coronae can be produced will be discussed. By observing the size of the extended upper atmospheres and related hydrogen-clouds and by determining the velocities of the surrounding hydrogen atoms, conclusions can be drawn in respect to the origin of the main atmosphere species. We show that the low size and mass of M-type stars makes them preferable targets to observe extended hydrogen


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clouds around terrestrial exoplanets. Transit follow-up observations in the UV-range of Earth-like exoplanets around M-type stars with space observatories such as the World Space Observatory-UV (WSO-UV) would provide a unique opportunity to shed more light on the early evolution of habitable Earth-like planets, including those of our own Solar System.

On the Habitability of the Earth in Jupiter-Saturn Like Configurations

PILAT-LOHINGER ELKE1

1Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna (Austria)

Detections of more than 700 planets outside the Solar System show a huge diversity of planetary systems that we did not expect. Most systems are quite different compared to our Solar System and a twin-Earth has not been found so far. Assuming that Solar System like configurations are the most favourable ones where a habitable Earth might exist, we show the influence of the architecture of the planetary system on the habitability of the Earth. The dynamics in the Solar System is certainly dominated by the two giant planets Jupiter and Saturn. And it is more probable to find a system of two giant planets showing similar characteristics like Jupiter and Saturn than a clone of our Solar System, we discuss the dynamics of various Jupiter-Saturn configurations and illustrate cases which influence the habitability of the Earth significantly.

On Classical Habitable Zones in Binary Star Systems EGGL SIEGFRIED

1, Pilat-Lohinger E.1, Georgakarakos N.2, Gyergyovits M.1, Funk B.1


2128 V. Olgas str., Thessaloniki 546 45 (Greece)

Given the latest success of Kepler and Corot missions culminating in the discovery of extrasolar planets in and around binary star systems, the determination of the classical Habitable Zone in such configurations becomes a topic of great scientific interest. What are the radiative and gravitational influences the second star exerts on the extent of the classical Habitable Zone? We present investigations on the insolation a terrestrial planet receives in binary star systems with different stellar components including time independent analytical estimates for S-type systems.


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Session 2: The Limits of Classical Habitability and Life

Keynote: Assessing Planetary Habitability: Don't Forget Exotic Life!

SCHULZE-MAKUCH DIRK 1

1School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Washington State University (USA)

With the confirmed detection of more than 700 exoplanets, the temptation looms large to constrain the search for extraterrestrial life to Earth-type planets, which have a similar distance to their star, a similar radius, mass and density. Yet, a look even within our Solar System points to a variety of localities to which life could have adapted to outside of the so-called Habitable Zone (HZ). Examples include the hydrocarbon lakes on Titan, the subsurface ocean environment of Europa, the near-surface environment of Mars, and the lower atmosphere of Venus. Recent Earth analog work and extremophile investigations support this notion, such as the discovery of a large microbial community in a liquid asphalt lake in Trinidad (as analog to Titan) or the discovery of a cryptoendolithic habitat in the Antarctic desert, which exists inside rocks, such as beneath sandstone surfaces and dolerite clasts, and supports a variety of eukaryotic algae, fungi, and cyanobacteria (as analog to Mars). We developed a Planetary Habitability Index (PHI, Schulze-Makuch et al., 2011), which was developed to prioritize exoplanets not based on their similarity to Earth, but whether the extraterrestrial environment could, in principle, be a suitable habitat for life. The index includes parameters that are considered to be essential for life such as the presence of a solid substrate, an atmosphere, energy sources, polymeric chemistry, and liquids on the planetary surface. However, the index does not require that this liquid is water or that the energy source is light (though the presence of light is a definite advantage). Applying the PHI to our Solar System, Earth comes in first, with Titan second, and Mars third.

References: Schulze-Makuch, D., Méndez, A., Fairén, A.G., von Paris, P., Turse, C., Boyer, G., Davila, A.F., António, M.R.S., Catling, D., and Irwin, L.N. (2011) A two-tiered approach to assessing the habitability of exoplanets. Astrobiology, 11 (10), 1041-1052.

Microscopic Liquid Subsurface Water in Cold Planetary Surfaces

MÖHLMANN DIEDRICH1

1Institute of Planetary Research, German Aerospace Centre (Germany)

Liquids are a key-requirement for terrestrial-type life to exist. Liquid water is known to have the necessary properties to establish transport processes of nutrients, waste (and related entropy export to stabilize structures) within a wide range of parameters like temperature, pressure and salt concentrations. It is demonstrated on the basis of thermodynamics that liquid interfacial water can also exist in cold (T < 0° C) rocky or granular surfaces of celestial bodies with water ice on or in the surface and/or with water vapour in the atmosphere. The different interfacial waters, which remain liquid also far below 0° C are

adsorbed surface water,

van der Waals forces confined surface water,

water in course of premelting of ice,

curvature determined capillary water,

liquid water in cryobrines, and

deliquescence generated liquid water.


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These liquid interfacial waters and their physical properties are discussed in detail. The unavoidable and partially only temporary (but periodically repetitive) presence of microscopic liquid interfacial water at temperatures far below 0° C sheds a new light on the possible presence of life forms in cold and apparently dry planetary rocks and regoliths but also on ice moons and ice-containing asteroids. Another discussed and important aspect with respect to biological relevance is the internal structure of water on both the molecular and the domains level, e.g. with LDW and HDW and related chemical “affinities”. Finally, the time-scales of “low-temperature” and necessarily “decelerated” but nevertheless not impossible life-processes are discussed.

The Life Supporting Zone of Kepler-22b and the Kepler Planetary Candidates: KOI268.01, KOI701.03, KOI854.01 and KOI1026.01

NEUBAUER DAVID1,2, Vrtala A.2, Leitner J.J.1,3, Firneis M.G.1,3, Hitzenberger R.1,2

1Research Platform: ExoLife, University of Vienna (Austria)

2Aerosol Physics and Environmental Physics Group, Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna (Austria)


The concept of the life supporting zone (Leitner et al., 2010a, Leitner et al., 2010b) is a generalization of the concept of the habitable zone (and therefore for life-as-we-know-it; Kasting et al., 1993 and references therein) to other solvents (and to life-as-we-do-not-know-it; Schulze-Makuch and Irwin, 2004; Baross et al., 2007). We present an estimate of life supporting zones of Kepler-22b and the Kepler planetary candidates KOI268.01, KOI701.03, KOI854.01 and KOI1026.01. To calculate the life supporting zone a radiative convective model for planetary atmospheres was further developed (Neubauer et al., 2011). For radiative transfer calculations the public domain software “Streamer” (Key and Schweiger, 1998) was modified to provide an interface with a cloud model (Neubauer, 2009), to increase the spectral range for radiative transfer calculations and to include additional scattering and absorbing gases as well as collision induced absorption. As clouds dominate the radiative transfer when they are present, clouds are incorporated in this model. Planetary surface temperatures were computed for Venus-like and Earth-like atmospheric scenarios including clouds. Computations of habitable zones for exotic life based on water, a water/ammonia mixture, and sulfuric acid for Kepler-22b, KOI268.01, KOI 701.03, KOI 854.01 and KOI 1026.01 show that they are likely in life supporting zones. Restrictions were derived on stellar and planetary input parameters for habitability. Clouds reduce the lower boundary of the surface albedo. Water and thick H2SO4-clouds lead to higher surface temperatures for small values of surface albedos and lower temperatures for higher albedos. For thin H2SO4-clouds the cooling effect dominates.

References: Baross, J. A. et al. (2007). The Limits of Organic Life in Planetary Systems, National Research Council, National Academies Press.; Kasting, J. F., Whitmore, D. P., Reynolds, R. T. (1993). Icarus, 101, 108-128.; Key, J. & Schweiger, A. J. (1998). Computers & Geosciences, 24(5), 443-451.; Leitner, J. J., Schwarz, R., Firneis, M. G., Hitzenberger, R., Neubauer, D. (2010a): Generalizing habitable zones in exoplanetary systems – The concept of the life supporting zone, Astrobiology Science Conference 2010, League City, USA.; Leitner, J. J., Neubauer, D., Schwarz, R, Eggl, S., Firneis, M. G. and Hitzenberger R. (2010b): The life supporting zone I - From classic to exotic life, European Planetary Science Congress 2010, Rome, Italy.; Neubauer, D. (2009). Phd thesis, University of Vienna.; Neubauer, D., Vrtala, A., Leitner, J. J., Firneis, M. G. and Hitzenberger R. (2011). Orig. Life Evol. Biosph. 41, 545–552.; Schulze-Makuch, D. & Irwin, L. N. (2004). Life in the universe, Springer.


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Compartmentalisation Strategies for Hydrocarbon-based Biota on Titan

NORMAN LUCY1, Skipper N.3, Fortes A.D.1, Crawford I.2

1MSSL/Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, Gower St., London (UK)

2Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Birkbeck College, Malet St., London (UK)

3Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower St., London (UK)

The goal of our study is to determine the nature of compartimentalisation strategies for any organisms inhabiting the hydrocarbon polar lakes of Titan (the largest moon of Saturn). Titan is the only moon in the solar system with a substantial atmosphere; it has a remarkably earth-like ‘hydrological’ cycle, with evidence for storm cloud activity, rainfall and river systems, often with subsequent drainage into lakes and seas at high latitudes (1, 2). However, at the low surface temperature of 94 K, the liquid involved is not water, but a mixture of methane, ethane and propane (3). Due to Titan’s plethora of organic chemistries it has long been recognised that it may provide useful insights into the pre-biotic evolution of early Earth (4). Since receiving huge amounts of data via the Cassini-Huygens mission to the Saturnian system astrobiologists have speculated that exotic biota might currently inhabit this environment, consuming acetylene (snowed onto the surface as a result of atmospheric photochemistry) and hydrogen whilst excreting methane (5, 6). This consumption should lead to an anomalous hydrogen depletion near the surface; and evidence to suggest this depletion exists has been published (7). Nevertheless, many questions still remain concerning the possible physiological traits of biota in these environments, including whether cell-like structures can form in low temperature, low molecular weight hydrocarbons. Terrestrial cell membranes are vesicular structures composed primarily of a phospholipid bilayer with the hydrophilic head groups arranged around the periphery. Simplified analogues of these structures, called liposomes, plus vesicles prepared from other surfactant types e.g. polymers, are artificially prepared primarily for pharmaceutical reasons e.g. drug delivery. However, these types of model cell membrane are also thought to be akin to the first proto-cells that terrestrial life utilised (8). Recently reversed aggregate types, such as reverse spherical micelles (a single lipid layer with a polar core) and reverse vesicles (a bilayer with a nonpolar core – see Fig.1), have been studied in nonpolar liquids, such as hydrocarbon solvents, due to pharmaceutical interests (9). However, these reverse vesicles may also be ideal model cell membranes for hydrocarbon-based organisms inhabiting Titan’s hydrocarbon lakes (10). A variety of different surfactants have been used to create reverse vesicles in liquid hydrocarbons to date; non-ionic ethers (11) and esters (9, 12); catanionic surfactant mixtures (13); zwitterionic gemini surfactants (14); coblock polymer surfactants (15); and amphiphilic phospholipid surfactants (16). In order to discover whether certain amphiphiles (a compound possessing both hydrophilic and lipophilic properties) will exhibit vesicular behaviour within liquid hydrocarbons, and to analyse their structure, we will carry out experimental studies using environmental conditions that are increasing comparable to those found on the surface of Titan. Experimental studies to determine the presence of vesicles include the use of microscopy, the Tyndall scattering effect, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nanoparticle tracking anaylsis (NTA), and – if beamtime is awarded - small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS). These potential ‘biomarkers’ could be searched for in results from proposed missions to the lakes, such as the proposed Titan lake lander - ‘TiME’ (17).

References: (1) Lopes R M C et al. Icarus 205, 540 (2010). (2) Stofan E R et al. Nature 445, 61 (2007). (3) Brown R H et al. Nature 454, 607 (2008). (4) Clarke D W et al. Orig Life Evol Biosph 27, 225 (1997). (5) Schulze-Makuch D et al. Orig Life Evol Biosph 36, 324 (2006). (6) McKay C P et al. Icarus 178, 274 (2005). (7) Strobel D F. Icarus 208, 878 (2010). (8). Fiordemondo D et al. Chem. Bio. Chem. 8, 1965 (2007). (9) Mollee H et al. J Pharm Sci 89, 930 (2000). ). (10) Norman L H et al. A&G 52, 39 (2011). (11) Kunieda H et al. Langmuir 15, 3118 (1999). (12) Shrestha L K et al. Langmuir 22, 1449 (2006). (13) Li H G et al. Chem. Lett 36, 702 (2007). (14) Peresypkin A et al.


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Mendeleev Commun. 17, 82 (2007). (15) Rangelov S et al. J. Phys. Chem B 108, 7542 (2004). (16) Tung S H et al. J. Am. Chem. 130, 8813 (2008). (17) Stofan E AAS DPS meeting 41, 45.04 (2009).

Possible Signs of Life on Venus

KSANFOMALITY LEONID1

1Space Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences (Russia)

The search for "habitable zones" in extrasolar planetary systems is based on the premise of "normal" physical conditions in a habitable zone, similar to those on the Earth. However, one should not exclude completely the possibility of the existence of life at relatively high temperatures, despite the lack of the experimental data of this kind. The planet Venus with its dense, hot (735 K), deoxygenated CO2 - atmosphere and high 92 bar-pressure at the surface could be a natural laboratory for the studies of this type. The only existing data of actual close-in observations of Venus' surface are the results of a series of missions of the Soviet VENERA landers which took place the 1970's. For 30 years since these missions the author repeatedly returned to the obtained images of the Venus' surface in order to reveal on them any unusual. Since the efficiency of the VENERA landers maintained for a long time they produced a large number of primary images. Thus, one can try to detect any differences in successive images and understand whether they are related to the wind or hypothetical habitability of the planet. Another sign of the wanted object could be their morphological peculiarities. Few relatively large objects were found with size ranging from a decimeter to half meter. Due to the high temperature the metabolism of organisms on Venus (if any) should be built without water. Based on data analyzed it has been suggested that because of the limited energy capacity of the Venusian fauna, the temporal characteristics of their physical actions can be much longer than that of the Earth. Their very slow actions probably are normal.

Session 3: Actual Topics in Astrobiology

Keynote: Panspermia Revisited

HORNECK GERDA1

1Institute of Aerospace Medicine, German Aerospace Centre (Germany)

“Panspermia”, coined by S. Arrhenius in 1903, suggests that microscopic forms of life, e.g., bacterial spores, can be dispersed in space by the radiation pressure from the Sun thereby seeding life from one planet to another or even beyond our Solar System. Being ignored for almost the rest of the century, the scenario of interplanetary transfer of life has received increased support from recent discoveries, such as the detection of Martian meteorites and the high resistance of microorganisms to outer space conditions. With the aid of space technology and adequate laboratory devices the following decisive step required for viable transfer from one planet to another have been tested: (i) the escape process, i.e. impact ejection into space; (ii) the journey through space over extended periods of time; and (iii) the landing process, i.e. non-destructive deposition of the biological material on another planet. In systematic shock recovery experiments within a pressure range observed in


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Martian meteorites (5-50 GPa) a vital launch window of 5-40 GPa has been determined for spores of Bacillus subtilis and the lichen Xanthoria elegans, whereas this window was restricted to 5-10 GPa for the endolithic cyanobaterium Chroococcidiopsis. Traveling through space implies exposure to high vacuum, an intense radiation regime of cosmic and solar origin and high temperature fluctuations. In several space experiments the biological efficiency of these different space parameters has been tested: extraterrestrial solar UV radiation has exerted the most deleterious effects to viruses, as well as to bacterial and fungal spores; however shielding against this intense insolation resulted in 70 % survival of B. subtilis spores after spending 6 years in outer space. Lichens survived 2 weeks in space, even without any shielding. Long-term exposure to space (up to 2 years) of a variety of resistant organisms was recently provided by ESA’s EXPOSE missions onboard of the International Space Station. The entry process of microorganisms has been tested in the STONE facility attached to the heat shield of a reentry capsule. The data provide experimental information to the scenario of “Lithopanspermia”, which assumes that impact-expelled rocks serve as interplanetary transfer vehicles for microorganisms colonizing those rocks.

References: Horneck G (guest editor) (2012) The astrobiology experiments of the European EXPOSE-E mission. Astrobiology 12 Issue 5.; Horneck G, Klaus, DM, and Mancinelli RL (2010) Space microbiology. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 74, 121-156.; Mileikowsky C, Cucinotta F, Wilson J W, Gladman B, Horneck G, Lindegren L, Melosh J, Rickman H, Valtonen M, Zheng J Q (2000) Natural transfer of viable microbes In space, Part 1: From Mars to Earth and Earth to Mars, Icarus, 145, 391-427.; Nicholson WL, Munakata N, Horneck G, Melosh HJ, and Setlow P (2000) Resistance of Bacillus endospores to extreme terrestrial and extraterrestrial environments, Microb. Mol. Biol. Rev. 64, 548-572.; Sancho, L.G., de la Torre, R., Horneck, G., Ascaso, C., de los Rios, A., Pintado, A., Wierzchos, J. and Schuster, M. (2007) Lichens survive in space: Results from the 2005 LICHENS experiment. Astrobiology, 7, 443-454.; Stöffler D, Horneck G, Ott S, Hornemann, U, Cockell CS, Moeller R, Meyer C, de Vera J-P, Fritz J, Artemieva NA, .Experimental evidence for the potential impact ejection of viable microorganisms from Mars and Mars-like planets (2007) Icarus, 186, 585-588.

Photosynthetic Activity and Adaptation Capacities of Lichens and Cyanobacteria to Martian Surface

Conditions

DE VERA JEAN-PIERRE1, Schulze-Makuch D.2, Khan A.2, Lorek A.1, Koncz A.1, Stivaletta N.3, Möhlmann D.1,

Spohn T.1

1Institute of Planetary Research, German Aerospace Centre (Germany)


3Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e Geoambientali, Università di Bologna (Italy)

We observed an increase in photosynthetic activity in the lichen Pleopsidium chlorophanum but a strong negative effect on the photosynthetic activity of endolithic cyanobacteria when subjected for 34 days to environmental stresses likely to be encountered in semi-protected habitats on the Martian surface. Stresses were simulated in a Mars Simulation Chamber (MSC) and included high UV fluxes, low temperatures, low water activity, high atmospheric CO2 concentrations, and an atmospheric pressure of about 6 mbar. P. chlorophanum is an extremophile: it lives in very cold, dry, high-altitude habitats which are Earth's best approximation of the Martian surface. Our lichen samples came from North Victoria Land in Antarctica whereas the investigated samples of cyanobacteria came from tropic regions in the Sahara. Three samples of each group of organisms were exposed uninterruptedly to simulated conditions (as above) of the naked, unprotected Martian surface for 34 days, receiving the full Martian solar spectrum (200 - 2500 nm) for a cumulative UV dose of 6343.6 kJm-2. For a second sample set - containing also three lichen thalli and three endolithic cyanobacteria communities - the cumulative (34-day) UV dose was reduced to 268.8 kJm-2, to reasonably simulate the amount the microorganisms might receive in (semi-) protected surface


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sites (e.g., fissures, cracks and micro-caves within rocks or permafrost soil). In the 'unprotected' experiment it was unclear if the lichen was still actively photosynthesizing but still clear that the cyanobacteria were affected. However, under 'protected site' conditions, the cyanobacteria had no clear photosynthetic response under and after simulated Martian conditions but the lichen not only survived and remained photosynthetically active, it even adapted physiologically by increasing its photosynthetic activity over 34 days. Comparison with other Mars simulation experiments on exposure platforms in space and in the laboratory with other investigated species show results of remarkable survival rates and maintained photosynthesizing activity which strongly supports the interconnected notions (1) that terrestrial life most likely can adapt physiologically to live on Mars (hence justifying stringent measures to prevent human activities from contaminating/infecting Mars with terrestrial organisms); (2) that in searching for extant life on Mars we should focus on "protected" habitats; and (3) that early-originating (Noachian Period) indigenous Martian life might still survive in such habitats despite Mars' cooling and drying during the last 4 billion years.

Results From a Crewed Mars Exploration Simulation at the Rio Tinto Analogue Site

TLUSTOS REINHARD1, Groemer G.E.2

1Austrian Space Forum, Vienna (Austria)

2Austrian Space Forum, Innsbruck (Austria)

In the framework of the research program "PolAres", the Austrian Space Forum leads an international and interdisciplinary effort to study exploration strategies for a human-robotic Mars surface expedition with a focus on planetary protection. After a series of seven field tests of the Aouda.X spacesuit simulator, a five-day field tests was conducted at the Rio Tinto Mars-analogue site in southern Spain. The field crew was supported by a full-scale Mission Control Center (MCC) in Innsbruck, Austria. The field telemetry data was channeled to the MCC to enable a Remote Science Support team to study field data in near-real-time and adjust the flight planning in a flexible manner. We report on experiments in the field of robotics, geophysics and geology and life sciences in an operational environment. We developed a method to trace particulate contamination using fluorescent microspherules as biological proxies, leading to a detailed understanding of their adhesive properties as well as robust statistical methods to determine the detection thresholds and contamination vectors.

On the role of pressure in the origin of life and the influence on astrobiology

SCHWARZ RICHARD1, Hatzenpichler R.2


2Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology (USA)

The present hypothesis suggests that life arose under a set of environmental conditions whereby polymerization was thermodynamically favored. In particular, increased pressure when coupled with low water activity and high temperature should stabilize polymer bond formation. The necessary conditions for stabilization are similar to some of the ecological niches occupied by representatives of archaebacteria. A great number of novel archaebacteria have been identified from a variety of extreme microbial habitats, like: hot springs, deep-sea hydrothermal vents and deep subsurface geothermal pools.


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This and studies which found that protoatmospheres of terrestrial (Earth-like) planets had dense water vapour dominated atmospheres, with pressure levels from 100 to 10000 bars during the magma ocean solidification process, leads to the question: Does the pressure play a major role in the origin of life?

Session 4: Extra-solar Planets and Biosignatures

Keynote: SuperEarths and Life – Characterizing a Habitable Exoplanet

KALTENEGGER LISA1

1Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, University of Heidelberg (Germany)

A decade of exoplanet search has led to surprising discoveries, from giant planets close to their star, to planets orbiting two stars, all the way to the first extremely hot, rocky worlds with potentially permanent lava on their surfaces due to the star's proximity. Observation techniques have now reached the sensitivity to explore the chemical composition of the atmospheres as well as physical structure of some detected planets and find planets of less than 10 Earth masses (so called Super-Earths), among them some that may potentially be habitable. Two confirmed non-transiting planets and several transiting Kepler planetary candidates orbit in the Habitable Zone of their host star. Observing mass and radius alone cannot break the degeneracy of a planet’s nature due to the effect of an extended atmosphere that can also block the stellar light and increase the observed planetary radius significantly. Even if a unique solution would exist, planets with similar density, like Earth and Venus, present very different planetary environments in terms of habitable conditions. Therefore the question refocuses on atmospheric features to characterize a planetary environment. We will discuss observational features of rocky planets in the HZ of their stars that can be used to examine if our concept of habitability is correct and how we can find the first habitable new worlds in the sky.

The Earth as a Benchmark: Spectropolarimetry Unveils Strong Bio-Signatures

STERZIK MICHAEL1, Bagnulo S.2, Palle E.3

1LaSilla Paranal Observatory, ESO (Chile)

2Armagh Observatory (UK)

3Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Tenerife (Spain)

Within the next decade we expect the discovery of planets with rocky cores and masses comparable to the Earth, orbiting in the habitable zone of nearby stars. The detection of bio-signatures in their spectra will be a major goal [1]. In the meantime, planet Earth serves as the only template to characterize and interpret spectra of Earth-analogues [2]. The optical spectrum of the Earth shows characteristic absorption features caused by molecular oxygen, ozone, and water in the atmosphere. Together with the increase of reflectivity beyond 700nm due to vegetation [3,4], these features are considered strong signatures for life as we know it [5]. We have obtained linear polarization spectra of the Earthshine that contain strong bio-signatures [6]. A comparison with theoretical models [7] allows us to discern the fractional contribution of clouds and ocean surface, and to reveal small amounts of vegetated areas in the portion of the Earth seen from the Moon. The interpretation of


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our measurements is independent of the knowledge of the spectrum of the planet-hosting star. We demonstrate experimentally that spectropolarimetry can be more advantageous than conventional spectroscopy to characterize the atmospheres and surfaces of extrasolar planets. Spectropolarimeters mounted at giant ground-based telescopes may become the key for the imminent search and characterization of life elsewhere in the universe [8].

References: [1]: Deming, D., Seager, S. 2009. Light and shadow from distant worlds. Nature 462, 301-306. [2]: Palle, E., Zapatero Osorio, M.R., Barrena, R., Montanes-Rodriguez, P., Martin, E.L. 2009. Earth's transmission spectrum from lunar eclipse observations. Nature 459, 814-816. [3]: Arnold, L., Gillet, S., Lardiere, O., Riaud, P., Schneider, J. 2002. A test for the search for life on extrasolar planets. Looking for the terrestrial vegetation signature in the Earthshine spectrum. Astronomy and Astrophysics 392, 231-237. [4]: Woolf, N.J., Smith, P.S., Traub, W.A., Jucks, K.W. 2002. The Spectrum of Earthshine: A Pale Blue Dot Observed from the Ground. The Astrophysical Journal 574, 430-433. [5]: Seager, S., Turner, E.L., Schafer, J., Ford, E.B. 2005. Vegetation's Red Edge: A Possible Spectroscopic Biosignature of Extraterrestrial Plants. Astrobiology 5, 372-390. [6]: Sterzik, M. F., Bagnulo, S. & Pallé, E. 2012. Biosignatures as revealed by spectropolarimetry of Earthshine. Nature 483, 64–66. [7]: Stam, D.M. 2008. Spectropolarimetric signatures of Earth-like extrasolar planets. Astronomy and Astrophysics 482, 989-1007. [8]: Keller, C.U. et al., 2010. EPOL: the exoplanet polarimeter for EPICS at the E-ELT. Proc. of SPIE, 7735, pp 77356G-77356G-13.

NASA’s Kepler Mission and the Quest for Other Earths

ENDL MICHAEL1

1McDonald Observatory / University of Texas (USA)

The primary science goal of NASA's Kepler mission is the first determination of the frequency of Earth-size planets in the habitable zone of sun-like stars. This year the nominal mission will come to an end. I will review current results and obstacles for finding true Earth-analogues. A few cases, like Kepler-22b, will be highlighted. I will also discuss future prospects for an extended mission.

Detection of the Water Maser Line at 1.35 cm in Exoplanetary Systems

COSMOVICI CHRISTIANO1, Pluchino S.2, Pogrebenko S.3, Montebugnoli S.2, Bartolini M.2, Schillirò F.2

1IAPS/INAF, Roma (Italy)

2IRA / INAF, Bologna (Italy)

3JIVE, Dwingeloo (The Netherlands)

The discovery of the first water emission in the atmosphere of Jupiter induced by a catastrophic cometary impact [1] has shown that the water Maser line at 22 GHz (1.35 cm) can be used as a diagnostic tool for cometary-[2] and also for planetary-water search outside the solar system, as comets are able to deliver very large amounts of water to planets raising the fascinating possibility of extraterrestrial life evolution. Furthermore, assuming that a sufficient amount of water may be present in the upper layers of a planetary atmosphere, it is possible to show that masing conditions may apply for a planet independently from cometary bombardment. The calculations of the feasibility of the Maser detection are reported in [3,4]. In 1999 we started the search for the water maser line on 35 targets up to 50 LY away from the Sun and by using fast multichannel spectrometers coupled to the 32 m dish of the Medicina and Noto Radiotelescopes (Italy) we carried out observations of : 1) stellar regions where either cometary clouds have been discovered, or planetary


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systems have been indirectly detected (up to now about 700); 2) peculiar stars, like red and brown dwarfs with sufficient IR- radiation to produce Maser emission. From the 35 targets investigated by us the following showed faint transient signals during different periods :

Epsilon Eridani, Lalande 21185, EQ Peg, Ups And, 47 UMa, Tau Ceti and Gliese 581.

The first two are the most reliable as we could detect signals with S/N > 4 with both telescopes. Eps Eri is particularly interesting for our purposes as it is only 10.8 LY away and among the closest star systems to the Sun. This target represents the terrestrial conditions 4 Gyr ago when cometary bombardment is supposed to have ended and life started.

References: [1] Cosmovici, C., et al.: First evidence of planetary water maser emission induced by the comet/Jupiter catastrophic impact, Planet. Space Sci., 44, 735, 1996 [2] Cosmovici, C., et al.: The puzzling detection of the 22 GHz water emission line in Comet Hyakutake, Planet. Space Sci, 46, 467, 1998 [3] Cosmovici, C., et al.: The 22 GHz water maser line: a new diagnostic tool for extrasolar planet search, ASP Conf.Series, 213, 151, 2000 and: Radio Search for Water in Exo-planetary Systems, ASP Conf. Series, 398, 33, 2008 [4] Minier, V., and Lineweaver , C.: Search for water masers toward extrasolar planets, A&A, 449, 805, 2006

From Satellite Remote Sensing of the Earth to Non-Invasive Diagnostics of Skin Cancer

STAMNES KNUT1

1Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey (USA)

Traditional ocean color retrievals form space-based sensors rely on a simplified two-step algorithm based on an initial atmospheric correction step (to provide water-leaving radiances) followed by two- or three-channel regression using a marine bio-optical model to infer chlorophyll concentrations. Improved retrieval accuracy can be obtained by simultaneous (one-step) retrieval of aerosol and marine properties by means of classical inverse techniques based on linearized coupled atmosphere-ocean radiative transfer and optimized bio-optical modeling. Forward and inverse modeling strategies based on such a one-step retrieval approach will be discussed as well as a method used to accelerate the performance in order to reach operational speed. Much like an atmosphere and a water body, biological tissue can also be considered a scattering and absorbing random medium, and the air-tissue system can be described mathematically in ways similar to the atmosphere-water system as far as its interaction with light is concerned. In particular, the abrupt change in the index of refraction at the atmosphere-water interface is similar to that at the air-tissue interface. Light refracted into human tissue is absorbed by skin chromophores, and multiple scattering by tissue “particles” leads to backscattered light that can be used to retrieve information about skin tissue properties in much the same way light scattered by biogenic “particles” in the ocean are used to infer the chlorophyll concentration. A forward and inverse modeling strategy developed to retrieve maps of important physiological and morphological tissue parameters from multi-spectral, multi-directional images of light reflected from a skin lesion will be described. A method that relies on these maps plus additional pure morphology parameters derived directly from the images to distinguish benign pigmented lesions from malignant ones will also be discussed.


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Taxonomy of the Extra-Solar Planets

PLÁVALOVÁ EVA1

1Department of Astronomy, Earth's Physics, and Meteorology, Comenius University, Bratislava (Slovakia)

When a star is described as a spectral class G2V, we know that the star is similar to our Sun. We know its approximate mass, temperature, age, and size. When working with an extra-solar planet database, it is very useful to have a taxonomy scale (classification) such as, for example, the Harvard classification for stars. The taxonomy has to be easily interpreted and present the most relevant information about extra-solar planets. I propose the following the extra-solar planet taxonomy scale with four parameters. The first parameter concerns the mass of an extra-solar planet in the form of the units of the mass of other known planets, where M represents the mass of Mercury, E that of Earth, N Neptune, and J Jupiter. The second parameter is the planet’s distance from its parent star (semi-major axis) described in logarithm with base 10. The third parameter is the mean Dyson temperature of the extra-solar planet, for which I established four main temperature classes; F represents the Freezing class, W the Water Class, G the Gaseous Class, and R the Roasters Class. I devised one additional class, however: P, the Pulsar Class, which concerns extra-solar planets orbiting pulsar stars. The fourth parameter is eccentricity. If the attributes of the surface of the extra-solar planet are known, we are able to establish this additional parameter where t represents a terrestrial planet, g a gaseous planet, and i an ice planet. According to this taxonomy scale, for example, Earth is 1E0W0t, Neptune is 1N1.5F0i, and extra-solar planet 55 Cnc e is 9E-1.8R1.

Session 5: The Influence of Potential Extraterrestrial Life on Religion and Philosophical/Sociological Aspects of Astrobiology

Keynote: Theological Consequences of the Potential Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life

FUNES JOSÉ G.1

1Vatican Observatory (Vatican)

I will review some ideas about extraterrestrial life in the history of the philosophical and religious thought. I will present some of the challenges that the potential discovery of extraterrestrial life would present to Christian theology. If we were to discover that we are not the only ones to inhabit the universe? Can a Christian admit the existence of other lives and other worlds, perhaps more advanced than ours, without calling into question our faith in the Creation, the Incarnation and Redemption?

The Implications of the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life for Religion and Theology

PETERS TED1

1Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley (USA)

This paper asks about the future of religion: (1) Will confirmation of ETI cause terrestrial religion to collapse? “No” is the answer based upon a summary of the “Peters ETI Religious Crisis Survey.” Then three questions are posed to the astrotheologian: (2) What is the scope of God’s creation? (3) What


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can we expect when we encounter ETI? (4) Will contact with more advanced ETI diminish human dignity? The paper’s thesis is that contact with extraterrestrial intelligence will expand the existing Christian vision that all of creation — including the 13.7 billion year history of the universe replete with all of God’s creatures — is the gift of a loving and gracious God.

Impacts of Philosophy and Theology on the Discussions Concerning the Existence of ExoLife and Vice Versa

KOSTRO LUDWIK1

1Department for Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science, University of Gdańsk (Poland)

There are philosophers and theologians who argue in favor of the existence of life, consciousness and intelligence in the Universe. (A) Philosophers, to support their arguments, use e.g. (1) the principle of homogeneity of Nature (“The same natural or statistical phenomena in the same natural or statistical circumstances, run naturally or statistically the same way”, “What is allowed by the laws of Nature has necessarily to happen if there are adequate and favorable circumstances”/George R. Price/). Therefore life and consciousness have been regarded as cosmic phenomena. (2) The principle of large numbers that allows us to calculate the frequency of replica, in our case the frequency of habitable exoplanets. (B) The theologians argue e.g. that if the Universe was deprived of life and consciousness, the act of creation could not be regarded as God’s gift of sensible existence, but only as His toy to play with, deprived totally of sensibility. On the other hand the existence of exolife, especially of exo-civilisations, creates problems for Christian theology that is still geocentric i.e. provincial and parochial. According to the Christian beliefs in heaven there are governing only terrestrial representatives: Jesus of Nazareth who is sitting at the right-hand side of his Father, His Mother Mary who is considered to be the Queen of the Heaven and Saint Peter who holds the keys to the Kingdom of God. If in our and other galaxies there are habitable planets, then Christian theology must change. The Holy See is aware of the problem and therefore Rome encourages creation of new theological ideas. There are already theologians who, in order to make their theology more cosmic, try to resolve the problem introducing the notion of multi-incarnation or returning to the ancient adoptive Christology. In such a way the birth of the modern astrobiology can trigger a new profound overturn of people’s outlook on the whole world.

The Ethical Implications for Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life

STUART JILL1

1London School of Economics (UK)

Ethical frameworks seek to normatively structure our behaviour and preconstitute expectations with regards to moral activity towards each other as well as other creatures and even non-sentient objects such as the environment. This paper considers how ongoing ethical discussions relating to earth-based interactions can be used as analogies to inform nascent conversations about potential future encounters with extraterrestrial life—while also highlighting where these geocentric conversations may fail to capture the unique dynamics of potential extraterrestrial encounters. The paper specifically considers the spectrum of ethical frameworks currently used in earth-based interactions and how they might apply outside the geocentric referent; from ethics towards non-sentient life on earth such as plants and the environment; to ethics towards sentient but


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‘unintelligent’ life; to intelligent life nonetheless deemed less intelligent than humans. Next the paper considers interactions that we have yet to (knowingly) have encountered here on earth: the ethics of interactions with life more intelligent than ourselves; and finally the ethics of interaction with robotic ‘post-biological’ forms, which some specialists in extraterrestrial communications have speculated will likely be the form of ‘creatures’ to be encountered should contact with extraterrestrials ever be made. Finally the paper will address deeper philosophical-ethical questions about the significance of such an exercise in shifting ethical frameworks from an anthropocentric perspective.

What is Life? Phenomenology versus Essentialism

SCHNEIDER JEAN1

1LUTh/Paris Observatory (France)

I will discuss two approaches of the definition of Life. In the essentialist approach, Life is defined by intrinsic, objective, attributes of the system under consideration (the living object), such as flexible adaptability to the environment. It is an "absolute" definition of Life (i.e. independent of the observer). In the phenomenological approach, there are only signs of Life, i.e. appearance which we, as human beings, interpret as emanating from a living being. It is a relativistic definition of Life. I will advocate for the advantages of the phenomenological approach and discuss its operational impact on the strategies for the search for Life.

Session 6: Searching for Extraterrestrial Intelligence and Communication

Modelling Evolution and SETI Mathematically

MACCONE CLAUDIO1

1International Academy of Astronautics (Italy)

Darwinian evolution theory may be regarded as a part of SETI theory in that the factor fl in the Drake equation represents the fraction of planets suitable for life on which life actually arose. In this paper we firstly provide a statistical generalization of the Drake equation where the factor fl is shown to follow the lognormal probability distribution. This lognormal distribution is a consequence of the Central Limit Theorem (CLT) of Statistics, stating that the product of a number of independent random variables whose probability densities are unknown and independent of each other approached the lognormal distribution when the number of factor increased to infinity. In addition we show that the exponential growth of the number of species typical of Darwinian Evolution may be regarded as the geometric locus of the peaks of a one-parameter family of lognormal distributions constrained between the time axis and the exponential growth curve. Finally, since each lognormal distribution in the family may in turn be regarded as the product of a large number (actually “an infinity”) of independent lognormal probability distributions, the mathematical way is paved to further cast Darwinian Evolution into a mathematical theory in


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agreement with both its typical exponential growth in the number of living species and the Statistical Drake Equation.

Science From Beyond: NASA's Pioneer Plaque and the History of Interstellar Communication, 1957-1972

MACAULEY WILLIAM1

1Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut, Freie Universität Berlin (Germany)

In the late twentieth century, science and technology facilitated exploration beyond the Solar System and extended human knowledge through messages comprised of pictures and mathematical symbols, transmitted from radio telescopes and inscribed on material artifacts attached to spacecraft. ‘Interstellar communication’ refers to collective efforts by scientists and co-workers to detect and transmit intelligible messages between humans and supposed extraterrestrial intelligence in remote star systems. Interstellar messages are designed to communicate universal knowledge without recourse to text, human linguistic systems or anthropomorphic content because it is assumed that recipients have no prior knowledge of humankind or the planet we inhabit. Scientists must therefore imagine how extraterrestrials will relate to human knowledge and culture. The production and transmission of interstellar messages became interdisciplinary design problems that involved collaboration and exchange of ideas between scientists, visual artists, and others. My proposed paper will review sociocultural aspects of interstellar communication since the late 1950s and focus on key issues regarding conception, design and production of a specific interstellar message launched into space during the early 1970s – NASA’s Pioneer plaque. The paper will explore how research on the history of interstellar communication relates to previous historical and sociological studies on rhetorical aspects of visual representation and mathematics in scientific practice. In particular, I will explain how the notion of ‘inscription’ is an appropriate conceptual tool for analyzing how scientists have used pictures to articulate and validate knowledge claims and scientific facts. I argue that scientific knowledge carried on interstellar messages such as the Pioneer plaque is constituted in material practices and inscription technologies that translate natural objects, agency and culture into legible forms. Graphical techniques for creating pictorial interstellar messages are enmeshed with contemporaneous methods for creating displays and images in routine scientific work, in fields such as radio astronomy and planetary science.

The Evolutionary Epistemics of Contact

FLORES MARTINEZ CLAUDIO1

1Faculty of Biosciences, University of Heidelberg (Germany)

Carl Woese, discoverer of the archaea and originator of the notion of a prebiotic RNA world, wrote in his essay A New Biology for a New Century that “science is impelled by two main factors, technological advance and a guiding vision (overview). A properly balanced relationship between the two is key to the successful development of a science: without the proper technological advances the road ahead is blocked. Without a guiding vision there is no road ahead…” This statement brings up the question whether the emerging science of astrobiology can be said to meet the requirements for scientific success proposed by Woese. Undeniably, in the last decade satellite-based astronomy has provided astonishing new tools for astrobiological research. But what about its guiding vision? This


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paper will argue that at the heart of astrobiology lies the powerful intuition that life and intelligence - far from being the singular product of an “impossible accident “ on earth – are, in fact, representative of a natural propensity towards biogenesis. In this sense, astrobiology seeks to redefine life as a phenomenon that is not the exception but rather the rule of a cosmic evolutionary process. For this expanded theory of evolution to fully establish itself in the scientific community hard empirical evidence of non-terrestrial life is needed that could only be provided by a contact scenario. Here, a survey is undertaken of some of the implications such an event would have for the underlying epistemics of the biosciences.


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Posters:

Flare Activity and UV Habitability in Extrasolar Planets

ABREVAYA XIMENA1,3, Cortón E.2,3, Mauas P.J.D.1,3

1Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio (IAFE), CONICET-UBA, Buenos Aires (Argentina)

2Department of Biochemistry, Buenos Aires University (Argentina)

3National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires (Argentina)

Usually, Dwarf M stars are targets in the search for extraterrestrial life outside of our solar system. They are choose among other stars because they are the most abundant in the galaxy, the liquid-water habitable zone (LW-HZ) is closer to these colder stars and it would be therefore easier to detect a terrestrial planet inside it. However, it is believed that planets in the LW-HZ should be tidally locked, which implies that this planetary body would have a hot face and a cold one, but recent atmospheric modeling provided evidences that the heat in the hot face could be transferred to the cold face. Furthermore there is another factor to analyze if planets around these stars in the LW-HZ could be suitable for life due flare activity in many of these stars (dMe stars), could have a strong impact over potential life beings. In particular in this work we analyze the capability of UV-resistant microorganisms such as halophilic archaea, to survive the strong UV radiation characteristic of flare activity in dMe stars. Our results showed that the microorganisms can survive at the tested doses, showing that this kind of life could thrive in these extreme environments from the UV point of view.

Ultraviolet and Liquid Water Habitable Zones of Planetary Systems

DOBOS VERA1, Orgoványi J.1, Tóth Z.2, Nagy I.3

1Eötvös University, Budapest (Hungary)

2University of Bremen (Germany)

3Physical Geodesy and Geodesical Research Group of the HAS, Technical University, Budapest (Hungary)

Search for extraterrestrial life is one of the main goals of ESA and NASA. Habitable zones (HZ) are defined to determine whether a planet is capable for supporting life. In our research work we focus on the liquid water HZ and the ultraviolet HZ. For the calculations of the ultraviolet HZ we improved the formulae and applied them for different star masses. Comparison of the HZs let us to have a deeper investigation of habitability. The Gliese 581 planetary system received distinguished attention in our investigations.

Influence of Viscosity on Magnetic Field Generation in Super-Earths

GOLD MANFRED W.1,2, Leitner J. J.1,2, Firneis M. G.1,2, Taubner R.-S.1,2



The Earth’s magnetic field is generated by convective flows of an electrically conducting fluid in the outer core of the planet, which is thought to consist of liquid iron, containing a few percent of light elements like oxygen. To maintain convection in the outer core, convective heat transport has to be more effective than conduction. This is ensured as long as the mantle is extracting heat from the core to a sufficient degree, but not too efficient, which would cool the Earth’s core too quickly and leave a


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completely solid core, unable to generate a magnetic field. Mantle convection provides the Earth with the mechanism to ensure a cooling rate that is adequate to maintain a convective core, which is obvious from the presence of the Earth’s magnetic field over geological time. Although the viscosity of the mantle material is many orders of magnitude larger than that of liquid iron in the core, it is low enough for mantle material to exhibit flow behaviour over geologic timescales. In view of the increasing number of detected exoplanets with masses from one to ten times the mass of the Earth, so-called Super-Earths, the question is whether mantles in these planets are also able to cool their cores sufficiently via mantle convection to sustain convective cores. By using a simple model that combines the results from the interior structure model by Wagner et al. (2011) with a parameterized mantle convection approach by Nimmo et al. (2004) the heat flow across the core-mantle boundary of Super-Earths with 5 and 10 times the mass of the Earth has been calculated. It turns out that with increasing planetary mass the dominance of conduction over convection in the cores increases due to the increasing viscosity of the lower mantle in these planets. Therefore it is very likely that the existence of self-sustaining dynamos decreases with increasing planetary mass.

References : [1] Wagner, F.W., Sohl, F., Hussmann, H., Grott, M., Rauer, H. (2011): Interior structure models of solid exoplanets using material laws in the infinite pressure limit, Icarus, 214, 366; [2] Nimmo, F., Price, G.D., Brodholt, J., Gubbins, D. (2004): The influence of potassium on core and geodynamo evolution, Geophys. J. Int., 156, 363

Information Fluxes as Concept for Categorizations of Life

HILDENBRAND GEORG1, Hausmann M.1

1Kirchhoff-Institute for Physics, University of Heidelberg (Germany)

Definitions of life are controversially discussed; however, they are mostly depending on bio-evolutionary driven arguments. Here, we propose a systematic, theoretical approach to the question what life is, by categorization and classification of different levels of life. This approach is mainly based on the analysis of information flux occurring in systems being suspicious to be alive, and on the analysis of their power of environmental control. In a first step, we show that all biological definitions of life can be derived from basic physical principles of entropy (number of possible states of a thermodynamic system) and of the energy needed for controlling entropic development. In a next step we discuss how any process where information flux is generated, regardless of its materialization is defined and related to classical definitions of life. In a third step we resume the proposed classification scheme in its most basic way, looking only for existence of data storage, its processing, and its environmental control. We join inhere a short discussion how the materialization of information fluxes can take place depending on the special properties of the four basic physical forces. Having done all this we are able to give everybody a classification catalogue at hand that one can categorize the kind of life one is talking about, thus overcoming the obstacles deriving from the simple appearing question whether something is alive or not. On its most basic level as presented here, our scheme offers a categorization for fire, crystals, prions, viruses, spores, up to cells and even tardigrada and cryostases.


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How Can We Detect Life When We Cannot Define It in a General Way?

LEITNER JOHANNES1,2, Firneis M.G.1,2



During recent months and years a large number of proposals for the definitions of life have been published. Nevertheless, an international consensus on this question has not been achieved up to now. There is also an ongoing discussion if it is possible to define life with only the terrestrial sample at hand and the fact that a general theory of life is necessary before defining life as a universal concept (Cleland and Chyba, 2002). Considering this background a „definition“ of life is not only of philosophical interest, but seems to be a necessary antecedent for the detection of extraterrestrial life. A number of definitions and hypotheses for life focus on the ability to reproduce itself and leads to the problem that a single individual cannot be considered formally as life as well as that sterile species of mules can also not considered to be alive. Viruses are classically also not categorized as life. Kolb (2007) defined the need of viruses to have host cells as „assisted reproduction“. Also a human being is only able to manage essential parts of its metabolism with the help of microorganisms, which are needed for example for the supply of some vitamins or for the reduction of carbohydrates as well as the synthesis of some amino acids. This kind of symbiosis between microorganisms and humans could also be interpreted as „assisted metabolism“ and leads once more to the question, how can we count humanity as being alive, but viruses declared as being not alive?

References: Cleland, C.E. and Chyba, C.F. (2002). Defining ‘life’. Orig Life Evol Biosph 32, pp. 387-393; Kolb, V.M. (2007). On the applicability of the Aristotelian principles to the definition of life. Int J Astrobiol 6, pp. 51-57.

Homochirality and the origin of life

POHL ROBERT1, Leitner J. J.1,2, Firneis M. G.1,2



Homochirality is generally considered a crucial signature for life on Earth, which uses left-handed amino acids and right-handed sugars. A mirror-image life, using right-handed amino acids and left-handed sugars, is perfectly conceivable and might have developed on another planet. Life which would simultaneously use both right- and left-handed forms of the same biological molecules is unlikely for geometrical reasons. Secondary peptide structures are not possible without one-handedness. Various theories try to explain the origin of homochirality. Physicists used as argument the phenomenon of parity violation discovered on 60Co, which does not explain homochirality on prebiotic substances. Astrophysicists suggested that the observed enantiomeric excesses could have been induced by circularly polarized light arising from dust scattering in regions of high mass star formations or even due to super nova remnants or pulsars. An extraterrestrial origin of homochiral substances is discusses as well as catalytic processes on early Earth using different mineral surfaces. Thermodynamics i.e. its 2nd law is considered to explain homochirality as consequence of increasing entropy. There are many questions not yet answered. The author looks forward to discuss some of them with interested scientists.


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Nebula-based Primordial Atmospheres of Planets Around Solar-Like Stars Revised

SCHERF MANUEL1, Lammer H.1, Leitzinger M.2, Odert P.2, Güdel M.3, Hanslmeier A.2




At the beginning of a planetary system, in the stage of the stellar nebula and the growing-phase of the planets, planetesimals and Earth-like proto-planets accumulate a remarkable amount of gas, mainly consisting of hydrogen and helium. The mass of such a primordial atmosphere was first estimated for the proto-Earth by Hayashi et al. (1979), with up to 1026 g accumulated within 106 years. Furthermore it is commonly expected that these primordial atmospheres will be completely dissipated due to irradiation of the stellar EUV-flux during the first 108 years. Recent observations of young solar-like stars indicate that the efficiency and effect of the EUV-flux after the nebula disappeared, was highly overestimated by previous studies. We show that parts of these dense hydrogen/helium-gas envelopes may sustain this early active stage of a young star. Implications on the habitability are also discussed.

Probing the Habitability of Exo-Moons of Gas Giants in Orbits Within the Habitable Zone

SCHIEFER SONJA1,2,3, Lammer H.3, Kirchengast G.1,2, Odert P.1


2Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change, University of Graz (Austria)


After the discovery of more than 750 extrasolar planets, questions regarding possible habitable exo-moons arise within the scientific community. Although most of the so far detected exoplanets are hydrogen-rich gas giants, several of them orbit within the habitable zones of their host stars. Since all gas and ice giants in the Solar System have large icy moons (e.g., Ganymede, Europa, Titan, Triton) it is most likely that large moons will also orbit around many exoplanets. A statistic of detected gas giants which orbit within the habitable zone of their host stars in total and as a function of the spectral type of their host stars will be given. We will discuss the expected environmental surface-atmosphere effects of a Ganymede-type icy moon whose planet migrated towards the habitable zone so that the ice layers may start to melt. The formation of a H2O-vapour-rich atmosphere and its corresponding greenhouse effect, the related water loss to space, influence of the albedo, and astrobiological implications for the expected habitats will be discussed.

Subsurface Oceans on Icy Solar System Bodies and their Impacts on Astrobiology

TAUBNER RUTH-SOPHIE1,2, Leitner J. J.1,2, Firneis M. G.1,2, Gold M. W.1,2



Although, plenty of Exoplanets were found in the last decade, we are still not able to detect a second Earth, not to mention the chance to detect life in such possible habitats. Therefore, we should start our search for extraterrestrial life right on our doorstep, within the Solar System. As only the Earth is


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located in the habitable zone (Kasting et al., 1993) around the Sun, there might be some other habitats in the Solar System. One kind of such a habitat might be the subsurface oceans on icy moons. The moons Rhea, Oberon, Titania, Pluto, Triton, Europa, and Enceladus are the most promising candidates for that scenario. The subsurface ocean on Europa was confirmed by several methods, like the study of impact craters or the detection of an induced magnetic field. Furthermore, Enceladus may host a subsurface ocean which could be the source for the plume detected in 2005 (e.g. Hansen et al., 2005). Life-as-we-know-it requires several conditions – three of them are liquid water, an energy source, and the presence of carbon. All of them seem to be available in subsurface oceans: The theoretical composition of the ocean is dominated by water, the energy source that keeps the ocean liquid (e.g. radiogenic or tidal heating) should also serve as energy source for potential life, and the presence of carbon is constituted by water-rock and water-ice interactions. Microorganisms may live below the ocean’s floor, may be clustered around hydrothermal vents on it, or may even flow freely in the subsurface water reservoir. These habitats could be comparable to subsurface lakes in Antarctica, like Lake Vostok. Therefore, a study of these terrestrial biospheres would deepen our knowledge about possible extraterrestrial subsurface habitats.

References: [1] Hansen, C. J., Esposito, L., Stewart, A. I. F., Colwell, J., Hendrix, A., Pryor, W., Shemansky, D.; West, R. Enceladus' Water Vapor Plume, Science 10:1422-1425, 2006.; [2] Kasting, J. F., Whitmore, D.P. and Reynolds, R. T. Habitable Zones around Main Sequence Stars, Icarus, 101:108-128, 1993.

Miller-Urey Experiments to Assess the Production of Amino Acids under Impact Conditions on Early Titan

TURSE CAROL1, Khan A.1, Leitner J. J.2,3, Firneis M.G.2,3, Schulze-Makuch D.1




We performed Miller-Urey type experiments to determine the organic synthesis of amino acids under conditions that have likely occurred on Saturn’s moon Titan and are also relevant to Jupiter’s moon Europa. We conducted the first set of experiments under early Earth conditions, similar to the original Miller-Urey experiments (Miller, 1953). In brief, the 250ml round bottom flask was filled with approximately 200mL of filtered sterile water and the apparatus was placed under vacuum for 10 minutes to purge the water of gases. The system was then flushed with hydrogen gas and placed under vacuum three times. Gases were then added in the following order: hydrogen gas to 0.1 bar, methane gas to 0.45 bar and ammonia to 0.45 bar (~1bar total). The water was then brought to a boil and the spark was applied using the tesla coil up to a maximum of 50,000 volts. The apparatus was run for approximately 5-7 days. Between the runs the apparatus was cleaned using a hot 10% sodium hydroxide solution followed by a dilute sulfuric acid wash and four rinses with Millipure water. In the second set of experiments we simulated conditions that could have existed on an early, warm Titan or after an asteroid strike on Titan (Schulze-Makuch and Grinspoon, 2005), particularly if the strike would have occurred in the subpolar areas that exhibit vast ethane-methane lakes. If the asteroid or comet would be of sufficient size, it would also puncture the icy crust and access a vast reservoir of the subsurface liquid ammonia-water mixture. Thompson and Sagan (1992) showed that a liquid water-ammonia body could exist for millions of years on Titan after an asteroid impact. Thus, we modified the experimental conditions as described above and report on the results. Assuming a moderate impact in the subpolar areas of Titan, we used an atmosphere of currently 1.5


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bar, but increased the partial pressure of methane to 1 bar (and 0.1 bar ammonia assuming a minor amount of ammonia-water ice being evaporated during the impact)

(1) Assuming a major impact that would puncture the icy crust and evaporate a significant portion of ammonia on impact, we increased the ammonia partial pressure to 0.5 bar (keeping methane constant at 1 bar) and used a 30 % ammonia water mixture as liquid reservoir in the experiment.

(2) Titan’s atmosphere also contains various higher organic trace constituents, commonly referred to as tholins, which include ethylene, ethane, acetylene, hydrogen cyanide and various aromatic compounds. A selection of these compounds was added in trace amounts to the experimental run.

References: Miller, S.L. (1953) A production of amino acids under possible primitive Earth conditions. Science 117, 528-529.; Schulze-Makuch, D. and Grinspoon, D.H. (2005) Biologically enhanced energy and carbon cycling on Titan? Astrobiology 5, 560-564.; Thompson, W.R. and Sagan, C. (1992) Organic chemistry on Titan – surface interactions. ESA Special Publication SP-338, 167-176.


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Participants

Abrevaya, Ximena C. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio (IAFE) / National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina [email protected] Armellin, Nathalie ESPI, Vienna, Austria [email protected] Baranes, Blandina ESPI, Vienna, Austria [email protected] Bogdanov, Biljana Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria [email protected] Cosmovici, Christiano IAPS/INAF, Roma, Italy [email protected] Dmochowska, Agnieszka ESPI, Vienna, Austria [email protected] Dobos, Vera Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary [email protected] Eggl, Siegfried Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria [email protected] Endl, Michael McDonald Observatory / University of Texas, USA [email protected] Evrard, Fabien ESPI, Vienna, Austria [email protected] Fahrngruber, Elisabeth Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria [email protected]


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Firneis, Maria G. Research Platform: ExoLife / Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria [email protected] Flores Martinez, Claudio Faculty of Biosciences, University of Heidelberg, Germany [email protected] Funes, José G. Vatican Observatory, Vatican [email protected] Funk, Barbara Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria [email protected] Gold, Manfred Research Platform: ExoLife / Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria [email protected] Hausmann, Michael Kirchhoff-Institute for Physics, University of Heidelberg, Germany [email protected] Hildenbrand, Georg Kirchhoff-Institute for Physics, University of Heidelberg, Germany [email protected] Hitzenberger, Regina Research Platform: ExoLife / Aerosol Physics and Environmental Physics Group, Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, Austria [email protected] Horneck, Gerda Institute of Aerospace Medicine, German Aerospace Centre, Germany [email protected] Hulsroj, Peter ESPI, Vienna, Austria [email protected] Kaltenegger, Lisa Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, University of Heidelberg, Germany [email protected] Karaca, Turac Medical University of Vienna, Austria [email protected]


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Kislyakova, Kristina G. Austrian Academy of Sciences, Space Research Institute, Graz/ Institute for Physics/IGAM, University of Graz, Austria and N.I. Lobachevsky State University, University of Nizhnij Novgorod, Russian Federation [email protected] Kiss, Gabor Research Platform: ExoLife / Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria [email protected] Kostro, Ludwik Department for Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science, University of Gdańsk, Poland [email protected] Kraus, Isabella Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria [email protected] Ksanfomality, Leonid Space Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia [email protected] Kühtreiber, Matthias Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria [email protected] Künzl, Elisabeth Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria [email protected] Lahcen, Arne ESPI, Vienna, Austria [email protected] Lammer, Helmut Austrian Academy of Sciences, Space Research Institute, Graz, Austria [email protected] Larsson , Mats Department of Archaeology, University of Gothenburg, Sweden [email protected] Leitner, Johannes J. Research Platform: ExoLife / Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria [email protected] Macauley, William R. Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany [email protected]


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Maccone, Claudio International Academy of Astronautics, Italy [email protected] Möhlmann, Diedrich Institute of Planetary Research, German Aerospace Centre, Germany [email protected] Moser, Boris Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria [email protected] Mundee-Barket, Elizabeth ESPI, Vienna, Austria [email protected] Neubauer, David Research Platform: ExoLife / Aerosol Physics and Environmental Physics Group, Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, Austria [email protected] Nilsson, Bertil Department of Astronomy and Theoretical Physics, Lund University, Sweden [email protected] Norðdahl, Kjartan Iceland [email protected] Norman, Lucy MSSL/Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, UK [email protected] Obiditsch, Margarete Austria [email protected] Paradiso, Tiziana ESPI, Vienna, Austria [email protected] Parapatits, Martin Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria [email protected] Pernold, Clara Faculty for Biology, University of Vienna, Austria [email protected]


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Peters, Ted Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, USA [email protected] Pilat-Lohinger, Elke Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria [email protected] Plávalová, Eva Department of Astronomy, Earth's Physics, and Meteorology, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia [email protected] Pluchino, Salvatore IRA / INAF, Bologna, Italy [email protected] Pohl, Robert Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria [email protected] Quirrenbach, Andreas ZAH, Landessternwarte Heidelberg, Germany [email protected] Rainer, Karin Research Platform: ExoLife / Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria [email protected] Rode-Paunzen, Monika Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria [email protected] Sagath, Daniel ESPI, Vienna, Austria [email protected] Sakuler, Wolfgang Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria [email protected] Scherf, Manuel Austrian Academy of Sciences, Space Research Institute, Graz, Austria [email protected] Schiefer, Sonja Institute for Physics/IGAM and Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change, University of Graz / Austrian Academy of Sciences, Space Research Institute, Graz, Austria [email protected]


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Schneider, Jean LUTh/Paris Observatory, France [email protected] Schulze-Makuch, Dirk School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Washington State University, USA [email protected] Schwarz, Richard Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria [email protected]

Stamnes, Knut Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey, USA [email protected]

Sterzik, Michael F. LaSilla Paranal Observatory, ESO, Chile [email protected]

Stuart, Jill London School of Economics, UK [email protected]

Taubner, Ruth-Sophie Research Platform: ExoLife / Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria [email protected]

Tlustos, Reinhard Austrian Space Forum, Austria [email protected]

Trinkl, Patricia Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria [email protected]

de Vera, Jean-Pierre Institute of Planetary Research, German Aerospace Centre, Germany [email protected]

Weber, Christof Austrian Academy of Sciences, Space Research Institute, Graz, Austria [email protected]

Weihs, Gerhard Research Platform: ExoLife / Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Austria [email protected]

Wolny, Britgitte University of Vienna, Austria [email protected]


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Würz, Wolfgang ESPI, Vienna, Austria [email protected]

Zieba, Sebastian Austria [email protected]


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Practical Information

How to reach the hotel “Hotel am Konzerthaus” and the ESPI:

Public transport (costs: 4€ - one-way-ticket):

From the airport, take train S7 (direction “Floridsdorf”) until station “Rennweg” and change to tram

71 (direction “Schwarzenbergplatz”). Get off the tram at “Am Heumarkt”. The hotel “Hotel am

Konzerthaus” is located at “Am Heumarkt 35-37” and the ESPI is located at “Schwarzenbergplatz 6”

(entrance Zaunergasse 1-3).

Alternatively, to train S7 you can take the City Airport Train (CAT) until “City Air Terminal”. Then

change to subway U4 (direction “Hütteldorf”) until station “Stadtpark”. From “Stadtpark” it is a 8-

minutes-walk to ESPI and “Hotel am Konzerthaus”, respectively (costs: 11,5€ - one-way-ticket).

Both locations can be also reached from the airport by taxi for 25-30€ (one-way).

At the map below, the location of the hotel “Hotel am Konzerthaus” (red label) and the ESPI (blue

label) are marked. Additionally, the tram station “Am Heumarkt” (red rectangle) and the subway

station “Stadtpark” (green rectangle) are highlighted.

For further information (and maps), see the websites of “Hotel am Konzerthaus” and ESPI:

http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-1276-hotel-am-konzerthaus-mgallery-

collection/location.shtml

http://www.espi.or.at/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=52&Itemid=34

© OSM

http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-1276-hotel-am-konzerthaus-mgallery-collection/location.shtml

http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-1276-hotel-am-konzerthaus-mgallery-collection/location.shtml

http://www.espi.or.at/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=52&Itemid=34


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Internet access at ESPI

Choose the ESPI_SPACE network and then enter the password: ESPI-SPACE003

Lunch

At lunchtime, there will be a buffet with various cold plates, spreads, bread and vegetables. If you

prefer a warm meal, please visit one of the restaurants next to the ESPI, e.g. the restaurant in the

hotel “Hotel am Konzerthaus” or the typical Viennese restaurant “Gmoakeller” (Am Heumarkt 25,

1030 Vienna).

Workshop Dinner

The workshop dinner will take place at the restaurant Esskultur (Marxergasse 14, 1030 Vienna). It is a typical Viennese “Beisl” where you will enjoy traditional Austrian specialties. At the map below, you can find the way from “Hotel am Konzerthaus” to the restaurant. The blue way marks the walk, the violet way shows how you will reach the restaurant via subway U4 (go by U4 for one station until “Landstraße”, direction: “Heiligenstadt”).

© OSM


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