From: LARRY KLAES (ljk4@msn.com)
Date: Thu Oct 10 2002 - 13:04:08 PDT
----- Original Message -----
From: NASANEWS@Ames
Sent: Thursday, October 10, 2002 3:27 PM
To: ames-releases@lists.arc.nasa.gov
Subject: NASA ASTROBIOLOGISTS TO STUDY EXTREME LIFE AT EARTH'S HIGHEST LAKE
Kathleen Burton
Oct. 10, 2002
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Phone: 650/604-1731 or 604-9000
E-mail: kburton@mail.arc.nasa.gov
Diane Richards
SETI Institute, Mountain View, Calif.
Phone: 650/960-4513
E-mail: drichards@seti.org
RELEASE: 02-109AR
NOTE TO EDITORS AND NEWS DIRECTORS: You are invited to an informal
media opportunity with Dr. Nathalie Cabrol and members of the
Licancabur expedition team on Oct. 15 from 9: 45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.
in the Visitor's Center at NASA Ames Research Center. To reach Ames,
take the Moffett Field exit off Highway 101 and drive east to the
main gate. Turn left before the main gate onto R.T. Jones St.,
proceed less than half a mile, and turn right into the Visitor's
Center parking lot.
NASA ASTROBIOLOGISTS TO STUDY EXTREME LIFE AT EARTH'S HIGHEST LAKE
Scientists from NASA, the SETI Institute and other organizations are
preparing to ascend nearly 4 miles to the summit of a dormant volcano
in the Chilean Andes to find out how the organisms that live there
can survive in the volcano's hostile environment.
During October, the scientists will explore several lakes in the
region, including the highest freshwater lake in the world, in the
caldera of the Licancabur volcano, almost 20,000 feet high. The
information they gather will help astrobiologists devise strategies
and technologies to search for life on planets like Mars during
future missions.
"If there was life on Mars 3.5 billion years ago, it could have used
defense mechanisms similar to those used by the organisms at
Licancabur volcano to survive," said expedition principal
investigator Dr. Nathalie Cabrol of the SETI Institute and NASA Ames
Research Center. "This expedition and the follow-up mission in 2003
will provide critical astrobiological information about the limits of
life on our planet," Cabrol said. "It also will give us clues about
which planets are good candidates to search for life and help in the
design of future mission strategies and technologies for exploring
ancient martian paleolakes or oceans on Europa." A moon of Jupiter,
Europa is believed by some scientists to contain a subsurface ocean
of water.
Although the lake at Licancabur volcano is covered with almost 2 feet
of ice during much of the year, the expedition will take place in the
southern hemisphere's spring, when the lake is not completely frozen.
The researcher-divers will not use oxygen during their dives, but
will have oxygen cylinders onboard a nearby dive boat as a backup
precaution. The NASA Ames Safety, Environment and Mission Assurance
Directorate has conducted an independent review of the Licancabur
mission to ensure safety compliance.
The site research will answer three questions critical to
astrobiology and space exploration, Cabrol explained -- How do the
organisms there survive in such a low-oxygen, high-ultraviolet
radiation environment? What are the limits of life on Earth? Why does
the water at the bottom of the volcano's
lake remain liquid when most of the lake's surface is frozen much of
the year? To find answers to these questions, the scientists plan to
study the life forms that live in the lake, such as microrganisms and
plankton. These 'extremophiles' thrive at Licancabur, one of the most
Mars-like analogs on Earth.
Another stressor on the life forms at the volcano is low atmospheric
pressure, said Cabrol. Because of the volcano's high altitude, the
atmospheric pressure is two times lower than at sea level.
Researchers also hope to learn how the lake itself survives, given
that the volcano is in the Atacama desert, one of the driest places
on Earth.
The scientists will dive to the lake's bottom to find some of the
answers. The researchers theorize that the lake's water temperature
may remain warm at the bottom because of heat transferred from the
volcano. "Only by going there will we find out," said Cabrol.
Research during the 25-day mission, which begins Oct. 16, will
include mapping the crater's geology and topography, surveying the
depth, topography and temperature of the lake bottom, characterizing
the lake's organisms and testing a two-wheeled Mars mini-rover
concept.
Samples returned from the lake during the mission will be transferred
to a support team of scientists who will begin preliminary analysis
in the nearby town of Antofagasta. Most samples, however, will be
flown to the United States for testing.
Cabrol will give brief interviews from the volcano's summit using a
satellite phone during the expedition on Oct. 24 and Nov. 1.
Interviews will take place between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. PDT. To arrange
an interview, please e-mail Kathleen Burton at
kburton@mail.arc.nasa.gov by Oct. 17.
The team also includes Dr. Chris McKay and Marcus Murbach of NASA
Ames, Drs. Imre Friedman, Edmond Grin , Edna DeVore and Roseli
Friedman of NASA Ames and the SETI Institute, Drs. Guillermo Chong,
Cecilia Demergasso, Lorena Escudero and Cristian Tambley from the
Universidad Catolica del Norte in Antofagasta, Chile, David Fike from
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Andrew Hock from the
University of California at Los Angeles, Dr. Keeve Kiss from the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Dr. Isivan Grigorsky from Kossuth
Lajos University in Hungary and Brian Grigsby from the Schreder
Planetarium.
With grant support from NASA, administrative support from the SETI
Institute and funding from Project ARISE and the Shasta County Office
of Education, the project has established a Web site that will let
teachers, students and members of the public take a virtual field
trip to Licancabur. Details are available at:
www.extremeenvironment.com
Project ARISE (Advanced Rural Integrated Science Education) is a
federally funded science professional development project for K-12
educators based in Shasta County, Calif.
Details are available at:
www.shastalink.k12.ca.us/scoe
The Licancabur expedition is funded primarily by NASA Ames Research
Center and the NASA IDEAS (Initiative to Develop Education through
Astronomy and Space Science) grant program, an education and outreach
public grant program administered by the Space Telescope Science
Institute, Baltimore, Md.
-end-
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