Investigating Europa's Habitability with the Europa Clipper.

The habitability of Europa is a property within a system, which is driven by a multitude of physical and chemical processes and is defined by many interdependent parameters, so that its full characterization requires collaborative investigation. To explore Europa as an integrated system to yield a complete picture of its habitability, the Europa Clipper mission has three primary science objectives: (1) characterize the ice shell and ocean including their heterogeneity, properties, and the nature of surface-ice-ocean exchange; (2) characterize Europa's composition including any non-ice materials on the surface and in the atmosphere, and any carbon-containing compounds; and (3) characterize Europa's geology including surface features and localities of high science interest. The mission will also address several cross-cutting science topics including the search for any current or recent activity in the form of thermal anomalies and plumes, performing geodetic and radiation measurements, and assessing high-resolution, co-located observations at select sites to provide reconnaissance for a potential future landed mission. Synthesizing the mission's science measurements, as well as incorporating remote observations by Earth-based observatories, the James Webb Space Telescope, and other space-based resources, to constrain Europa's habitability, is a complex task and is guided by the mission's Habitability Assessment Board (HAB).

Ecological differentiation in planktonic and sediment-associated chemotrophic microbial populations in Yellowstone hot springs.

Chemosynthetic sediment and planktonic community composition and sizes, aqueous geochemistry and sediment mineralogy were determined in 15 non-photosynthetic hot springs in Yellowstone National Park (YNP). These data were used to evaluate the hypothesis that differences in the availability of dissolved or mineral substrates in the bulk fluids or sediments within springs coincides with ecologically differentiated microbial communities and their populations. Planktonic and sediment-associated communities exhibited differing ecological characteristics including community sizes, evenness and richness. pH and temperature influenced microbial community composition among springs, but within-spring partitioning of taxa into sediment or planktonic communities was widespread, statistically supported (P < 0.05) and could be best explained by the inferred metabolic strategies of the partitioned taxa. Microaerophilic genera of the Aquificales predominated in many of the planktonic communities. In contrast, taxa capable of mineral-based metabolism such as S(o) oxidation/reduction or Fe-oxide reduction predominated in sediment communities. These results indicate that ecological differentiation within thermal spring habitats is common across a range of spring geochemistry and is influenced by the availability of dissolved nutrients and minerals that can be used in metabolism.

Iron-sulfide-bearing chimneys as potential catalytic energy traps at life's emergence.

The concept that life emerged where alkaline hydrogen-bearing submarine hot springs exhaled into the most ancient acidulous ocean was used as a working hypothesis to investigate the nature of precipitate membranes. Alkaline solutions at 25-70°C and pH between 8 and 12, bearing HS(-)±silicate, were injected slowly into visi-jars containing ferrous chloride to partially simulate the early ocean on this or any other wet and icy, geologically active rocky world. Dependent on pH and sulfide content, fine tubular chimneys and geodal bubbles were generated with semipermeable walls 4-100 µm thick that comprised radial platelets of nanometric mackinawite [FeS]±ferrous hydroxide [∼Fe(OH)(2)], accompanied by silica and, at the higher temperature, greigite [Fe(3)S(4)]. Within the chimney walls, these platelets define a myriad of micropores. The interior walls of the chimneys host iron sulfide framboids, while, in cases where the alkaline solution has a pH>11 or relatively low sulfide content, their exteriors exhibit radial flanges with a spacing of ∼4 µm that comprise microdendrites of ferrous hydroxide. We speculate that this pattern results from outward and inward radial flow through the chimney walls. The outer Fe(OH)(2) flanges perhaps precipitate where the highly alkaline flow meets the ambient ferrous iron-bearing fluid, while the intervening troughs signal where the acidulous iron-bearing solutions could gain access to the sulfidic and alkaline interior of the chimneys, thereby leading to the precipitation of the framboids. Addition of soluble pentameric peptides enhances membrane durability and accentuates the crenulations on the chimney exteriors. These dynamic patterns may have implications for acid-base catalysis and the natural proton motive force acting through the matrix of the porous inorganic membrane. Thus, within such membranes, steep redox and pH gradients would bear across the nanometric platelets and separate the two counter-flowing solutions, a condition that may have led to the onset of an autotrophic metabolism through the reduction of carbon dioxide.