Background
This Senior Staff Renewal project focuses on developing multiomic – in this case, metagenomics (to determine microbial community structure) and metatranscriptomics (to determine microbial community function) – skills to enable studies evaluating microbial community structure and function and learning how to apply Broadband Coherent Anti-stokes Raman Spectroscopy (BCARS) for astrobiology analog studies. This effort will enable PI Phillips-Lander to both collect preliminary data for upcoming proposals and establish herself as the astrobiologist for the Haughton Mars Research Station, which will provide long-term opportunities within the lunar and Martian research communities. This effort builds the SwRI Astrobiology Program by: 1) expanding in-house astrobiology capabilities and 2) developing the PI’s professional network.
Approach
The project involves four interrelated technical tasks:
- Task 1: Field work in Haughton Crater on Devon Island, Canada, focused on permafrost sample collection with Dr. Pascal Lee (SETI) and Dr. Brian Glass (NASA Ames).
- Task 2: Multiomics training and hands-on research application on permafrost samples with Dr. Chris Bradburne (JHU/APL).
- Task 3: BCARS training and hands-on research application on permafrost samples with Drs. Amanda Stockton and Marcus Cicerone (Georgia Institute of Technology).
- Task 4: Develop a model for the potential subsurface variability of Mars permafrost that can be tested in follow-on external effort.
Accomplishments
During the first quarter, Dr. Phillip’s Lander completed field work on Devon Island and returned ~100 samples from 4 drill holes and 7 hand-dug trenches to 1 meter depth for use in Task 2 and 3. Permafrost associated ground ice was consistently encountered at ~60 cm depth in all permafrost polygon and impact breccia samples. ATP bioluminescence assays (measures of microbial activity) suggest that microbial activity increases right at the active layer permafrost boundary (~60 cm). Frozen ground was not observed at >1 m depth in gullies. ATP assays of these samples found generally higher microbial activity associated with above freezing ground temperatures at depth. Preliminary field work also highlighted some travel and shipping challenges that can occur when working in a remote field location like the Haughton Mars Project. These challenges enabled the PI to create better cost realism for three PSTAR proposals submitted in October 2023. The PI-led PSTAR proposal focuses on an integrated large-scale Mars Life Explorer analog mission that combines surficial and subsurface analyses to identify how to search for life in the Martian subsurface in both volcanic and impact analog terrains. The second, led by Dr. Glass (AMES), focuses on conducting additional field work at Haughton Crater to advance drilling automation for a future Mars Life Explorer Mission, coupled with Raman analysis of the mineralogy, ice content, and organics present at depth. The third PSTAR proposal, led by Dr. Cynthia Dinwiddie (SwRI) focuses on understanding how to search for life in frozen dunes analogous to Mars and Titan environments. These proposals represent progress toward building SwRI’s astrobiology program and the PI’s professional network.