In situ measurements of the physical characteristics of Titan's environment.

On the basis of previous ground-based and fly-by information, we knew that Titan's atmosphere was mainly nitrogen, with some methane, but its temperature and pressure profiles were poorly constrained because of uncertainties in the detailed composition. The extent of atmospheric electricity ('lightning') was also hitherto unknown. Here we report the temperature and density profiles, as determined by the Huygens Atmospheric Structure Instrument (HASI), from an altitude of 1,400 km down to the surface. In the upper part of the atmosphere, the temperature and density were both higher than expected. There is a lower ionospheric layer between 140 km and 40 km, with electrical conductivity peaking near 60 km. We may also have seen the signature of lightning. At the surface, the temperature was 93.65 +/- 0.25 K, and the pressure was 1,467 +/- 1 hPa.

Annual solar UV exposure and biological effective dose rates on the Martian surface.

The ultraviolet (UV) environment of Mars has been investigated to gain an understanding of the variation of exposure throughout a Martian year, and link this flux to biological effects and possible survival of organisms at the Martian surface. To gain an idea of how the solar UV radiation varies between different regions, including planned landing sites of two future Mars surface missions, we modelled the total solar UV surface flux throughout one Martian year for two different dust scenarios. To understand the degree of solar UV stress on micro-organisms and/or molecules essential for life on the surface of Mars, we also calculated the biologically effective dose (BED) for T7 and Uracil in relevant wavelength regions at the Martian surface as a function of season and latitude, and discuss the biological survival rates in the presence of Martian solar UV radiation. High T7/Uracil BED ratios indicate that even at high latitudes where the UV flux is significantly reduced, the radiation environment is still hostile for life due to the persisting UV-C component of the flux.

Laboratory investigations of the survivability of bacteria in hypervelocity impacts.

It is now well established that material naturally moves around the Solar System, even from planetary surface to planetary surface. Accordingly, the idea that life is distributed throughout space and did not necessarily originate on the Earth but migrated here from elsewhere (Panspermia) is increasingly deemed worthy of consideration. If life arrived at the Earth from space, its relative speed will typically be of order many km s-1, and the resulting collision with the Earth and its atmosphere will be in the hypervelocity regime. A mechanism for the bacteria to survive such an impact is required. Therefore a programme of hypervelocity impacts in the laboratory at (4.5 +/- 0.6) km s-1 was carried out using bacteria (Rhodococcus) laden projectiles. After impacts on a variety of target materials (rock, glass and metal) attempts were made to culture Rhodococcus from the surface of the resulting craters and also from the target material ejected during crater formation. Control shots with clean projectiles yielded no evidence for Rhodococcus growth from any crater surface or ejecta. When projectiles doped with Rhodococcus were used no impact crater surface yielded colonies of Rhodococcus. However, for four shots of bacteria into rock (two on chalk and two on granite) the ejecta was afterwards found to give colonies of Rhodococcus. This was not true for shots onto glass. In addition, shots into aerogel (density 96 kg m-3) were also carried out (two with clean projectiles and two with projectiles with Rhodococcus). This crudely simulated aero-capture in a planetary atmosphere. No evidence for Rhodococcus growth was found from the projectiles captured in the aerogel from any of the four shots.

Homochirality as the signature of life: the SETH Cigar.

A characteristic hallmark of life is its homochirality: all biomolecules are usually of one hand, e.g. on Earth life uses only L-amino acids for protein synthesis and not their D mirror images. It is therefore suggested that a search for extra-terrestrial life can be approached as a Search for Extra-Terrestrial Homochirality (SETH). A novel miniaturized space polarimeter, called the SETH Cigar, is described which could he used to detect optical rotation as the homochiral signature of life on other planets. Moving parts are avoided by replacing the normal rotating polarizer by multiple fixed polarizers at different angles as in the eye of the bee. It is believed that homochirality will be found in the subsurface layers on Mars as a relic of extinct life.