With the present surge of interest in astrobiology and its emergence as a new scientific discipline in its own right, the role of a celebrated pioneer is all too often forgotten. There can be little doubt that the late Sir Fred Hoyle played a key part in relating astronomical phenomena to questions of life. One of his first contributions in this area was his introduction of the so-called anthropic principle to astronomy. By the late 1940's astronomers had worked out how the simplest chemical element Hydrogen could be converted into Helium in stars, thus providing the main energy source by which stars shine. The building of nuclei beyond Helium by stellar nuclear processes appeared difficult at the time because of instabilities in nuclei with atomic masses 5 and 8. Hoyle had the grand vision of making most if not all of the elements in the Periodic Table in stars. In the early 1950's Hoyle argued that by the very fact of our existence, the existence of life, the element Carbon had to be synthesised in quantity in stars. This could not happen, Hoyle concluded, unless the nucleus of Carbon possessed an energy level corresponding to a hitherto unknown excited state which he was able to calculate. This was necessary so that three Helium nuclei could combine first to form a Carbon nucleus in the excited state that subsequently decayed into the ground state. One of the major triumphs of Hoyle's Anthropic Principle was that his predicted excited state was subsequently discovered in the laboratory by Ward Whaling and Willy Fowler at Caltech. This discovery opened the door to a brand new discipline of Nuclear Astrophysics. In a seminal paper published in 1957, Hoyle together with Willy Fowler, Geoffrey and Margaret Burbidge showed that all the chemical elements needed for life C, N, O, P, Mg, Fe, S … were made in stars. In a sense Hoyle's work in 1957 already provided the foundation stone for astrobiology. He showed that in essence we were made of stardust.

We report the first in situ observation of hollow organic globules in any extraterrestrial material using the Tagish Lake carbonaceous chondrite. Data from analytical transmission electron microscopy, Raman and micro-Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy indicate that the globules consist of aliphatic and oxygenated functions. The hollow spherical morphologies are strikingly similar to the material produced by the laboratory simulation of ultraviolet photolysis of interstellar ice analogues and subsequent aqueous processing, suggesting that the organic globules in the Tagish Lake meteorite may be extremely primitive organic material that formed before or during the formation of the solar system. The FTIR organic signatures also show strong similarities to the membrane-like products formed from hydrothermal reaction of an OH-bearing amino acid in the presence of hydrous minerals. The survival of the structures in the Tagish Lake sample indicates that primitive meteorites must have delivered these structures to the early Earth as a possible precursor to life.

The launch of a new journal is appropriately like a space mission. It is the result of a scientific need, the inspiration of a group of committed scientists and technologists, a series of draft proposals, an approved mission protocol, and a launch. Today is the launch day for a journal whose remit has only recently consolidated from diverse disciplines. Cambridge University Press has an international reputation for astronomy. To this we add extreme biology and its associated environmental research to integrate astrobiology as: ‘the study of the origin, evolution, adaptation and distribution of past and present life in the Universe’.

Astrobiology has three main themes: (1) Origin, evolution and limits of life on Earth; (2) Future of life, both on Earth and elsewhere; (3) Search for habitats, biomolecules and life in the Solar System and elsewhere. These fundamental concepts require the integration of various disciplines, including biology (especially microbiology), chemistry, geology, palaeontology, and the physics of atmospheres, planets and stars. We must also keep our minds wide open about the nature and limits of life. We can safely assume a carbon-based system within Solar Systems as we know them, but our concept of habitable zones expands yearly. We were taught that only the spores of certain bacilli could survive temperatures above the boiling point of water, and yet we now know that the deep-sea vent microbe Pyrolobus can survive an hour at 121 °C, which is the temperature used for sterilising medical instruments. We know of cyanobacteria which can not only live inside deep-frozen Antarctic rocks but also survive on roof-tops in Jerusalem at 80 °C. The bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans tolerates lethal doses of nuclear radiation, and cyanobacteria inside Antarctic desert sandstone receive so little moisture that their carbon turnover time (from its fixation by photosynthesis to its release as carbon dioxide during respiration) is 10,000 years. Life is tolerant, adaptable and tenacious.

Project Leader, Antarctic Astrobiology, British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge 1946–2002

David Donaldson Wynn-Williams, born 16th July, 1946, in West Kirby, Cheshire, UK and Founding Editor of the International Journal of Astrobiology, met an ‘untimely and unjust death’ (W. Block, Independent, 4th April, 2002) on 24th March, 2002, which left his colleagues and family deeply saddened.

We propose a new type of robotic mission for the exploration of Mars. This mission is called Vanguard and represents the fruits of a collaboration that is both international and multi-disciplinary. Vanguard is designed for sub-surface penetration and investigation using remote instruments and unlike previous robotic architectures it offers the opportunity for multiple subsurface site analysis using three moles. The moles increase the probability that a subsurface signature of life can be found and by accomplishing subsurface analysis across a transect, the statistical rigour of Martian scientific exploration would be improved. There is no provision for returning samples to the surface for analysis by a gas-chromatograph/mass-spectrometer (GCMS) – this minimizes the complexity invoked by sophisticated robotic overheads. The primary scientific instruments to be deployed are the Raman spectrometer, infrared spectrometer and laser-induced breakdown spectroscope – the Raman spectrometer in particular is discussed. We concentrate primarily on the scientific rationale for the Vanguard mission proposal. The Vanguard mission proposal represents a logical opportunity for extending European robotic missions to Mars.

Several viable halophilic archaebacteria were isolated previously from rock salt of Permo-Triassic age in an Austrian salt mine; one of these strains was the first to be recognized as a novel species from subterranean halite and was designated Halococcus salifodinae. The halophilic microorganisms have apparently survived in the salt sediments over extremely long periods of time. Halobacteria could therefore be suitable model organisms for exploring the possibility of long-term survival of microbes on other planets, in particular, since extraterrestrial halite has been detected in meteorites and is assumed to be present in the subsurface ocean on Europa. Our efforts are directed at the identification of the microbial content of ancient rock salt and the development of procedures for the investigation of the halobacterial response to extreme environmental conditions. Using modified culture media, further halophilic strains were isolated from freshly blasted rock salt and bore cores; in addition, growth of several haloarchaea was substantially improved. Molecular methods indicated the presence of at least 12 different 16S rRNA gene species in a sample of Alpine rock salt, but these strains have not been cultured yet. The exploration of Mars is a target of space missions in the 21st century; therefore, testing the survival of haloarchaea under conditions comparable to present-day Mars, using a simulation chamber, was begun. Preliminary results with Halococcus and Halobacterium species suggested at least tenfold higher survival rates when cells were kept in liquid brines than under dry conditions; staining of cells with the LIVE–DEAD kit, which discriminates between damaged and intact membranes, corroborated these data.

Two thermodynamic principles offer considerable insight into the climatic and geological settings for life on other planets, namely (1) that natural systems tend to actually achieve the ideal (‘Carnot’) limit of conversion of heat into work and (2) if a fluid system such as an atmosphere has sufficient degrees of freedom, it will choose the degree of heat transport that maximizes the generation of work (equivalently, that which offers maximum entropy production). The first principle agrees well with results on terrestrial cumulus convection, and the mechanical energy released by tectonic activity. The second principle agrees with the observed zonal climates of Earth, Mars and Titan, and shows promise for planetary interiors too; I discuss applications in the investigation of paleoclimates and habitability. I compare the work performed by planetary atmospheres and interiors on the terrestrial planets and thereby predict a weakly eroded landscape on Titan. The association of life with the production of entropy is also noted, and the possibility of evaluating planetary entropy production by telescopic observation is discussed.

In this work we started from the basic idea that the pure polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) cannot be the real carriers of the unidentified infrared bands (UIBs), the emission spectra coming from a large variety of astronomical objects. Instead we propose a new model taken from petroleum chemistry which, we can show, is able to match both the UIBs and even the protoplanetary nebulae (PPNe) spectra. PAHs such as phenanthrene, benzoperylene, coronene and pentacene, are too pure and too specific to really exist in the interstellar medium. Instead our model proposes that the carrier of UIBs and PPNe are complex molecular mixtures like those obtained as fractions during the petroleum refining processes. These molecular mixtures are so complex that practically the investigators did not try to identify each individual component but characterized the mixture with an average molecular structure that takes into account both the average molecular weight and the average content of aromatic, naphtenic (cycloaliphatic) and aliphatic (paraffinic) fraction. We show by infrared spectroscopy that petroleum fractions obtained at certain steps of the refining process are able to match the UIBs and the PPNe infrared bands with the advantage of not being so specific as PAHs are. Namely we have used as samples a distillate aromatic extract (DAE) a treated residual aromatic extract (T-RAE) and finally a naphtenic oil. Among the three samples examined, the DAE sample was the best in matching the UIBs and PPNe spectra.

Crossed-beam experiments on the reactions of cyano CN(X2Σ+) and ethinyl C2H(X2Σ+) radicals with the unsaturated hydrocarbons acetylene, ethylene, methylacetylene allene and benzene have been carried out under single-collision conditions to investigate synthetic routes to form nitriles, polyynes and substituted allenes in hydrocarbon-rich atmospheres of planets and their moons. All reactions were found to proceed without an entrance barrier, to have exit barriers well below the energy of the reactant molecules and to be strongly exothermic. The predominant identification of the radical versus atomic hydrogen exchange channel makes these reactions compelling candidates for the formation of complex organic chemicals – precursors to biologically important amino acids – in Solar system environments and in the interstellar medium.

NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, USA 7–11 April 2002

16–19 September 2002 Graz, Austria

The lichen symbiotic organisms Fulgensia bracteata and Xanthoria elegans as well as their isolated photobionts and mycobionts were exposed to conditions simulating the extreme parameters of outer space in order to assess their limits of survival, e.g. during a potential interplanetary transfer or on the surface of an extraterrestrial body. Using the space simulation facilities at DLR, the test parameters under investigation were vacuum (10−3 Pa) and ultraviolet (UV) radiation at wavelength ranges from vacuum-UV to UV-A, applied separately or in combination. An analysis of vitality was made using confocal laser scanning microscopy and LIVE/DEAD staining using FUN I or SYTOX green. Intact lichens were extremely resistant to vacuum exposure as well as to UV radiation up to doses of about 160 kJ m−2 (200<λ<400 nm). Removal of the upper-cortex structure significantly increased the sensitivity of the lichens to the space parameters: already a relatively short treatment of about 5 h and a UV dose of about 50 kJ m−2 reduced the vitality rate to nearly 50%; however, the dose effect curves levelled off and continued treatment did not reduce the vitality further. Similar survival curves levelling off at higher UV doses were observed for the isolated photobionts; however, in the latter cases, the saturation occurred at five times lower doses (full UV spectrum). Also spores of the mycobionts showed a remarkable UV (254 nm) resistance up to doses of about 3 kJ m−2. The data suggest that the symbiotic features peculiar to lichens allow them to cope with the extreme conditions of outer space or even with Martian surface conditions provided suitable niche habitats are available to serve as refuges and complementary endogenous or exogenous protection mechanisms are established.

The chemical structure of the dicyanogen photopolymer (CN)x, also known as paracyanogen, prepared in different solvents from dicyanogen (CN)2 photopolymerization under the action of ultraviolet light, is shown to be very similar to the polymer derived from hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and from certain tholins obtained from a simulated Jovian atmosphere. The implications of dicyanogen and its polymer as a precursor of some organic molecules already detected in cometary comas and tails and in meteorites are discussed. In particular, paracyanogen may be present in the cometary nuclei and in the surface of certain low-albedo objects in the Solar system.

The discovery of subsurface communities has encouraged speculation that such communities might be present on planetary bodies exposed to harsh surface conditions, including the early Earth. While the astrobiology community has focused on the deep subsurface, near-subsurface environments are unique in that they provide some protection while allowing partial access to photosynthetically active radiation. Previously we identified near-surface microbial communities based on photosynthesis. Here we assess the productivity of such an ecosystem by measuring in situ carbon fixation rates in an intertidal marine beach through a diurnal cycle, and find them surprisingly productive. Gross fixation along a transect (99×1 m) perpendicular to the shore was highly variable and depended on factors such as moisture and mat type, with a mean of ~41 mg C fixed m−2 day−1. In contrast, an adjacent well-established cyanobacterial mat dominated by Lyngbya aestuarii was ~12 times as productive (~500 mg C fixed m−2 day−1). Measurements made of the Lyngbya mat at several times per year revealed a correlation between total hours of daylight and gross daily production. From these data, annual gross fixation was estimated for the Lyngbya mat and yielded a value of ~1.3×105 g m−2 yr−1. An analysis of pulse-chase data obtained in the study in conjunction with published literature on similar ecosystems suggests that subsurface interstitial mats may be an overlooked endogenous source of organic carbon, mostly in the form of excreted fixed carbon.

We examined the environmental stresses experienced by cyanobacteria living in endolithic gneissic habitats in the Haughton impact structure, Devon Island, Canadian High Arctic (75° N) and compared them with the endolithic habitat at the opposite latitude in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica (76° S). In the Arctic during the summer, there is a period for growth of approximately 2.5 months when temperatures rise above freezing. During this period, freeze–thaw can occur during the diurnal cycle, but freeze–thaw excursions are rare within higher-frequency temperature changes on the scale of minutes, in contrast with the Antarctic Dry Valleys. In the Arctic location rainfall of approximately 3 mm can occur in a single day and provides moisture for endolithic organisms for several days afterwards. This rainfall is an order of magnitude higher than that received in the Dry Valleys over 1 year. In the Dry Valleys, endolithic communities may potentially receive higher levels of ultraviolet radiation than the Arctic location because ozone depletion is more extreme. The less extreme environmental stresses experienced in the Arctic are confirmed by the presence of substantial epilithic growth, in contrast to the Dry Valleys. Despite the more extreme conditions experienced in the Antarctic location, the diversity of organisms within the endolithic habitat, which includes lichen and eukaryotic algal components, is higher than observed at the Arctic location, where genera of cyanobacteria dominate. The lower biodiversity in the Arctic may reflect the higher water flow through the rocks caused by precipitation and the more heterogeneous physical structure of the substrate. The data illustrate an instance in which extreme climate is anti-correlated with microbial biological diversity.

The notion that ultraviolet (UV) fluxes, and thus biologically weighted irradiances, were higher on Archaean Earth than on present-day Earth has been a pervasive influence on thinking concerning the nature of early Earth. It directly influences calculations concerning protection strategies that may or may not have been required by early life. Our knowledge of the Earth's changing UV radiation climate over time depends upon our knowledge of a diversity of factors, the magnitudes of which are uncertain. Here these uncertainties are explored. During the Archaean Era, calculations of the surface photobiological environment span a three order of magnitude difference in DNA-damage weighted irradiances with consequences for our assumptions concerning the environment for exposed surface life and the role of UV radiation as a mutagen. These differences are primarily caused by uncertainties in the concentrations of trace gases and the partial pressures of carbon dioxide and nitrogen that affect scattering in the atmosphere. To a lesser extent, the luminosity of the Sun in the UV region is also a factor. During the Proterozoic and Phanerozoic, when we know that an ozone column existed, these uncertainties drop to two orders of magnitude and are primarily caused by poor knowledge about the frequency and atmospheric effects of potentially ozone-depleting agents such as volcanism, impact events and supernovae explosions as well as the effects of global temperatures on ozone concentrations and thus surface UV irradiance. Changes in other atmospheric constituents during this time have less of an effect on photobiological consequences, which include a Palaeozoic oxygen pulse. Understanding the cause of photobiological uncertainties and their consequences constitutes a current challenge for atmospheric chemists and photobiologists.

Solar radiation is the primary energy source for surface planetary life, so that pigments are fundamental components of any surface-dwelling organism. They may therefore have evolved in some form on Mars as they did on Earth. Photosynthetic microbes are major primary producers on Earth, but are concurrently vulnerable to ultraviolet (UV) damage. Using non-intrusive laser Raman spectroscopy to recognize the component parts of biomolecules, we have shown not only the abundance of microbial photosynthetic and photoprotective pigments in situ, but also their spatial distribution within their microhabitat. This essential aspect of their screening or avoidance survival strategies is lost on extraction with solvents. This precise approach is eminently suited to analysis of epilithic (surface) and endolithic (within rocks) communities in Antarctic desert habitats, which are putative analogues of early Mars. Raman spectra for key biomolecules (e.g. the UV screen parietin and the antioxidant β-carotene in epilithic lichens) enable not only the detection of organics in light-stratified habitats, but also the characterization of unknown pigments. Typical biomarkers of astrobiological relevance in our Raman spectral database include scytonemin (a UV screen), chlorophyll (primary photosynthetic pigment), phycocyanin (accessory pigment for shade adaptation) and a hopanoid extracted from 2·5 Gya microbial stromatolite from Australia. This compound dates from the same time period when a wetter Mars could have had a potentially flourishing surface microbial community of its own. Analyses with a laboratory Raman instrument have been extended to a novel miniature Raman spectrometer, operating at the same optimal excitation wavelength (1064 nm) via an In-Ga-As detector. After evaluation in Antarctica, this instrument will be space-qualified for a proposed Mars rover mission to detect biomolecules in the near-surface sediment profile of palaeolakes, using experience with Antarctic biomarkers to interpret alien spectra of fundamental components, without the need for prior knowledge of the identity of the target compounds.

The polar desert is one of the most extreme environments on Earth. Endolithic organisms can escape or mitigate the hazards of the polar desert by using the resources available in the interior of rocks. We examined endolithic communities within crystalline rocks that have undergone shock metamorphism as a result of an asteroid or comet impact. Specifically, we present a characterization of the heterotrophic endolithic community and its environment in the interior of impact-shocked gneisses and their host polymict breccia from the Haughton impact structure on Devon Island, Nunavut, Canadian High Arctic. Microbiological colonization of impact-shocked rocks is facilitated by impact-induced fissures and cavities, which occur throughout the samples, the walls of which are lined with high abundances of biologically important elements owing to the partial volatilization of minerals within the rock during the impact. 27 heterotrophic bacteria were isolated from these shocked rocks and were identified by 16S rDNA sequencing. The isolates from the shocked gneiss and the host breccia are similar to each other, and to other heterotrophic communities isolated from polar environments, suggesting that the interiors of the rocks are colonized by microorganisms from the surrounding country rocks and soils. Inductively coupled plasma–atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis were used to identify the chemical composition of the shocked materials and to document the in situ growth of microbes in their interiors. The identification of these heterotrophic communities within impact-shocked crystalline rocks extends our knowledge of the habitable biosphere on Earth. The colonization of the interiors of these samples has astrobiological applications both for considering terrestrial, microbiological contamination of meteorites from the Antarctic ice sheet and for investigating possible habitats for microbial organisms on the early Earth, and more speculatively, on Mars and other planetary bodies.

Cryptoendolithic microbial communities living within Antarctic rocks are an example of survival in an extremely cold and dry environment. The extinction of these micro-organisms formerly colonizing sandstone in the Mount Fleming area (Ross Desert), was probably provoked by the hostile environment. This is considered to be a good terrestrial analogue of the first stage of the disappearance of possible life on early Mars. To date, only macroscopically observed indirect biomarkers of the past activity of cryptoendoliths in Antarctic rocks have been described. The present paper confirms, for the first time, the existence of cryptoendolith microbial fossils within these sandstone rocks. The novel in situ application of scanning electron microscopy with backscattered electron imaging and simultaneous use of X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy allowed the clear detection of microfossils left behind by Antarctic endoliths. Careful interpretation of the morphological features of cells, such as preserved cell walls in algae, fungi and bacteria, cytoplasm elements such as chloroplast membranes in algae and organic matter traces, mineral associations, and the spatial context of these structures all point to their identification as cryptoendolith microfossils. This type of investigation will prompt the development of research strategies aimed at locating and identifying the signs that Martian microbiota, probably only bacteria if they existed, may have been left for us to see.