Marine Science Can Contribute to the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Life
Jacopo Aguzzi,
Javier Cuadros,
Lewis Dartnell,
Corrado Costa,
Simona Violino,
Loredana Canfora,
Roberto Danovaro,
Nathan Jack Robinson,
Donato Giovannelli,
Sascha Flögel,
Sergio Stefanni,
Damianos Chatzievangelou,
Simone Marini,
Giacomo Picardi,
Bernard Foing
Affiliations
Jacopo Aguzzi
Instituto de Ciencias del Mar (ICM)—CSIC, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Javier Cuadros
Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5D, UK
Lewis Dartnell
School of Life Sciences, University of Westminster, 115 New Cavendish St, London W1W 6UW, UK
Corrado Costa
Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l’Analisi Dell’Economia Agraria—Centro di Ricerca Ingegneria e Trasformazioni Agroalimentari, 00015 Monterotondo, Italy
Simona Violino
Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l’Analisi Dell’Economia Agraria—Centro di Ricerca Ingegneria e Trasformazioni Agroalimentari, 00015 Monterotondo, Italy
Loredana Canfora
Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l’Analisi dell’economia Agraria—Centro di Ricerca Agricoltura e Ambiente, 00182 Roma, Italy
Roberto Danovaro
Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Polytechnic University of Marcs (UNIVPM), 60131 Ancona, Italy
Nathan Jack Robinson
Instituto de Ciencias del Mar (ICM)—CSIC, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Donato Giovannelli
Department of Biology, University of Naples Federico II, 80138 Naples, Italy
Sascha Flögel
GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, 24106 Kiel, Germany
Sergio Stefanni
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121 Naples, Italy
Damianos Chatzievangelou
Instituto de Ciencias del Mar (ICM)—CSIC, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Simone Marini
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121 Naples, Italy
Giacomo Picardi
Instituto de Ciencias del Mar (ICM)—CSIC, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Bernard Foing
Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1081-1087, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Life on our planet likely evolved in the ocean, and thus exo-oceans are key habitats to search for extraterrestrial life. We conducted a data-driven bibliographic survey on the astrobiology literature to identify emerging research trends with marine science for future synergies in the exploration for extraterrestrial life in exo-oceans. Based on search queries, we identified 2592 published items since 1963. The current literature falls into three major groups of terms focusing on (1) the search for life on Mars, (2) astrobiology within our Solar System with reference to icy moons and their exo-oceans, and (3) astronomical and biological parameters for planetary habitability. We also identified that the most prominent research keywords form three key-groups focusing on (1) using terrestrial environments as proxies for Martian environments, centred on extremophiles and biosignatures, (2) habitable zones outside of “Goldilocks” orbital ranges, centred on ice planets, and (3) the atmosphere, magnetic field, and geology in relation to planets’ habitable conditions, centred on water-based oceans.
