Examinando por Autor "Billi, Daniela"

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Acceso Abierto
Biosignature stability in space enables their use for life detection on Mars
(Science Advances, 2022-09-07) Baqué, Mickael; Backhaus, Theresa; Meeßen, Joachim; Hanke, Franziska; Böttger, Ute; Ramkissoon, Nisha; Olsson-Francis, Karen; Baumgärtner, Michael; Billi, Daniela; Cassaro, Alessia; de la Torre Noetzel, Maria Rosa; Demets, René; Edwards, Howell; Ehrenfreund, P.; Elsaesser, Andreas; Foing, Bernard; Foucher, Frédéric; Huwe, Björn; Joshi, Jasmin; Kozyrovska, Natalia; Lasch, Peter; Lee, Natuschka; Leuko, Stefan; Onofri, Silvano; Ott, Sieglinde; Pacelli, Claudia; Rabbow, Elke; Rothschild, Lynn; Schulze Makuch, D.; Selbmann, Laura; Serrano, Paloma; Szewzyk, Ulrich; Verseux, Cyprien; Wagner, Dirk; Westall, Frances; Zucconi, Laura; De Vera, Jean Pierre; Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI); Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie (BMWi); Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR); Volkswagen Foundation; "Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Two rover missions to Mars aim to detect biomolecules as a sign of extinct or extant life with, among other instruments, Raman spectrometers. However, there are many unknowns about the stability of Raman-detectable biomolecules in the martian environment, clouding the interpretation of the results. To quantify Raman-detectable biomolecule stability, we exposed seven biomolecules for 469 days to a simulated martian environment outside the International Space Station. Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) strongly changed the Raman spectra signals, but only minor change was observed when samples were shielded from UVR. These findings provide support for Mars mission operations searching for biosignatures in the subsurface. This experiment demonstrates the detectability of biomolecules by Raman spectroscopy in Mars regolith analogs after space exposure and lays the groundwork for a consolidated space-proven database of spectroscopy biosignatures in targeted environments.
Acceso Abierto
Future space experiment platforms for astrobiology and astrochemistry research
(npj Microgravity, 2023-06-12) Elsaesser, Andreas; Burr, David J.; Mabey, Paul; Urso, Riccardo Giovanni; Billi, Daniela; Cockell, Charles S.; Cottin, Hervé; Kish, Adrienne; Leys, Natalie; Van Loon, Jack J. W. A.; Mateo Marti, Eva; Moissl-Eichinger, Christine; Onofri, Silvano; Quinn, Richard C.; Rabbow, Elke; Rettberg, Petra; de la Torre Noetzel, Maria Rosa; Slenzka, Klaus; Ricco, Antonio J.; De Vera, Jean Pierre; Westall, Frances; European Space Agency (ESA)
Space experiments are a technically challenging but a scientifically important part of astrobiology and astrochemistry research. The International Space Station (ISS) is an excellent example of a highly successful and long-lasting research platform for experiments in space, that has provided a wealth of scientific data over the last two decades. However, future space platforms present new opportunities to conduct experiments with the potential to address key topics in astrobiology and astrochemistry. In this perspective, the European Space Agency (ESA) Topical Team Astrobiology and Astrochemistry (with feedback from the wider scientific community) identifies a number of key topics and summarizes the 2021 “ESA SciSpacE Science Community White Paper” for astrobiology and astrochemistry. We highlight recommendations for the development and implementation of future experiments, discuss types of in situ measurements, experimental parameters, exposure scenarios and orbits, and identify knowledge gaps and how to advance scientific utilization of future space-exposure platforms that are either currently under development or in an advanced planning stage. In addition to the ISS, these platforms include CubeSats and SmallSats, as well as larger platforms such as the Lunar Orbital Gateway. We also provide an outlook for in situ experiments on the Moon and Mars, and welcome new possibilities to support the search for exoplanets and potential biosignatures within and beyond our solar system.
Acceso Abierto
Limits of Life and the Habitability of Mars: The ESA Space Experiment BIOMEX on the ISS
(Mary Ann Liebert, 2019-02-11) De Vera, Jean Pierre; Alawi, Mashal; Backhaus, Theresa; Baqué, Mickael; Billi, Daniela; Böttger, Ute; Berger, T.; Bohmeier, M.; Cockell, Charles S.; Demets, René; de la Torre Noetzel, Maria Rosa; Edwards, Howell; Elsaesser, Andreas; Fagliarone, Claudia; Fiedler, Annelie; Foing, Bernard; Foucher, Frédéric; Fritz, Jörg; Hanke, Franziska; Herzog, Thomas; Horneck, Gerda; Hübers, Heinz-Wilhelm; Huwe, Björn; Joshi, Jasmin; Kozyrovska, Natalia; Kruchten, Martha; Lasch, Peter; Lee, Natuschka; Leuko, Stefan; Leya, Thomas; Lorek, Andreas; Martínez Frías, Jesús; Meessen, Joachim; Moritz, Sophie; Moeller, Ralf; Olsson-Francis, Karen; Onofri, Silvano; Ott, Sieglinde; Pacelli, Claudia; Podolich, Olga; Rabbow, Elke; Reitz, Günther; Rettberg, Petra; Reva, Oleg; Rothschild, Lynn; García Sancho, Leo; Schulze Makuch, D.; Selbmann, Laura; Serrano, Paloma; Szewzyk, Ulrich; Verseux, Cyprien; Wadsworth, Jennifer; Wagner, Dirk; Westall, Frances; Wolter, David; Zucconi, Laura; Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO); Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI); Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI); National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU); German Centre for Air and Space Travel; Helmholtz Association
BIOMEX (BIOlogy and Mars EXperiment) is an ESA/Roscosmos space exposure experiment housed within the exposure facility EXPOSE-R2 outside the Zvezda module on the International Space Station (ISS). The design of the multiuser facility supports—among others—the BIOMEX investigations into the stability and level of degradation of space-exposed biosignatures such as pigments, secondary metabolites, and cell surfaces in contact with a terrestrial and Mars analog mineral environment. In parallel, analysis on the viability of the investigated organisms has provided relevant data for evaluation of the habitability of Mars, for the limits of life, and for the likelihood of an interplanetary transfer of life (theory of lithopanspermia). In this project, lichens, archaea, bacteria, cyanobacteria, snow/permafrost algae, meristematic black fungi, and bryophytes from alpine and polar habitats were embedded, grown, and cultured on a mixture of martian and lunar regolith analogs or other terrestrial minerals. The organisms and regolith analogs and terrestrial mineral mixtures were then exposed to space and to simulated Mars-like conditions by way of the EXPOSE-R2 facility. In this special issue, we present the first set of data obtained in reference to our investigation into the habitability of Mars and limits of life. This project was initiated and implemented by the BIOMEX group, an international and interdisciplinary consortium of 30 institutes in 12 countries on 3 continents. Preflight tests for sample selection, results from ground-based simulation experiments, and the space experiments themselves are presented and include a complete overview of the scientific processes required for this space experiment and postflight analysis. The presented BIOMEX concept could be scaled up to future exposure experiments on the Moon and will serve as a pretest in low Earth orbit.
Restringido
Mars-like UV Flux and Ionizing Radiation Differently Affect Biomarker Detectability in the Desert Cyanobacterium Chroococcidiopsis as Revealed by the Life Detector Chip Antibody Microarray
(Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers, 2022-10-03) Billi, Daniela; Blanco, Yolanda; Ianneo, Andrea; Moreno Paz, Mercedes; Aguirre, Jacobo; Baqué, Mickael; Moeller, Ralf; De Vera, Jean Pierre; Parro, Víctor
The effect of a Mars-like UV flux and γ-radiation on the detectability of biomarkers in dried cells of Chroococcidiopsis sp. CCMEE 029 was investigated using a fluorescence sandwich microarray immunoassay. The production of anti-Chroococcidiopsis antibodies allowed the immunoidentification of a reduced, though still detectable, signal in dried cells mixed with phyllosilicatic and sulfatic Mars regolith simulants after exposure to 6.8 × 105 kJ/m2 of a Mars-like UV flux. No signal was detected in dried cells that were not mixed with minerals after 1.4 × 105 kJ/m2. For γ-radiation (60Co), no detectable variations of the fluorescence signal occurred in dried cells exposed to 113 kGy compared to non-irradiated dried cells. Our results suggest that immunoassay-based techniques could be used to detect life tracers eventually present in the martian subsurface in freshly excavated materials only if shielded from solar UV. The high structural integrity of biomarkers irradiated with γ-radiation that mimics a dose accumulated in 13 Myr at 2 m depth from the martian surface has implications for the potential detectability of similar organic molecules/compounds by future life-detection missions such as the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover.