Struggling to be astrobiologist in india

I wanted to be an astrobiologist but there is no specific domain in india college that offer this course and for indirect path I have do ug and then PhD it will take long time and I have not enough money to afford that much WHAT CAN I DO

Welcome to the weekly digest! This Week: Martian water, robots for Europa and Enceladus, and Exoplanet Detection! Something came up this week for me, so sorry for the delay, and shorter post! :) .

Meteoric clues for Mars’ Watery History

A recent study led by Marissa Tremblay of Purdue University has precisely dated the Lafayette Meteorite’s (discovered 1931) interaction with liquid water, shedding light on geological processes on the Red Planet nearly 742 million years ago. Published in Geochemical Perspective Letters, the research reveals that water-rock interactions in the meteorite likely resulted from permafrost melting triggered by magmatic activity, rather than widespread surface water. Tremblay and her team used noble gas isotopes to confirm the robustness of this dating method, overcoming challenges posed by the meteorite’s ejection from Mars, its journey through space, and its fiery entry into Earth's atmosphere. The Lafayette Meteorite is part of a rare class called nakhlites, which uniquely preserve evidence of liquid water on Mars. Tremblay’s work highlights meteorites as invaluable tools for investigating ancient Martian habitability.

https://www.geochemicalperspectivesletters.org/article2443/

https://astrobiology.com/2024/11/meteorite-contains-evidence-of-liquid-water-on-mars-742-million-years-ago.html

Steps towards Icy Moon Robotic landers and explorers

Some recent work from NASA has tested the feasibility of two concepts pertaining to icy moon landers. The first is a ‘descending melting probe’ which would melt its way through Europa’s thick ice shell. A team at NASA JPL/Caltech calculated the descent time as 22 days to ~4 years for a small cell size, and between 27 to ~103 years for a larger cell size. This means thermal descent probes can be utilised effectively though the lifespan of a mission!

Secondly, NASA have been testing submersible robots to ‘swim’ in the subsurface oceans of icy moons. The swimming robots, dubbed Sensing With Independent Micro-swimmers or SWIM for short, are intended to be the next generation of icy moon explorers after Europa Clipper and JUICE. Recent footage has shown these prototypes working effectively, swimming in a pool. These may be my new favourite rovers!

https://astrobiology.com/2024/11/travel-times-of-a-descending-melting-probe-on-europa.html

[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39535045/#:~:text=A%20smaller%20cell%20size%20(%20Δ,(%20T%20p%20%3D%20280K)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39535045/#:~:text=A%20smaller%20cell%20size%20(%20Δ,(%20T%20p%20%3D%20280K))

https://astrobiology.com/2024/11/icy-ocean-world-explorers-for-future-astrobiology-missions.html

https://youtu.be/sz0SWy7bCzU

New Instrumentation making discoveries in the Radial Velocity Method

The NEID spectrograph, mounted on the WIYN 3.5-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, has been proving its worth. Designed to measure minute stellar "wobbles" caused by the gravitational tug of orbiting planets, NEID can detect radial velocity changes as small as 3.5 kilometers per hour. This precision has enabled NEID to achieve a milestone: the independent discovery and characterization of exoplanet HD 86728 b. This ‘Super Earth’ orbits its star every 31 days and has a mass nine times that of Earth. Despite decades of observations of its host star, this elusive planet evaded detection until NEID’s advanced technology confirmed its existence in just 137 nights. The planet appears to be alone in its system, but smaller, more distant companions may still be undetected. NEID is accelerating the search for Earth-like worlds, paving the way for groundbreaking advancements in our understanding of planetary systems.

https://astrobiology.com/2024/11/neid-earth-twin-survey-delivers-on-its-goal-to-push-the-limits-of-exoplanet-discovery.html

https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.12315

To give some context to my question. I play universe sandbox and I’m currently interested in making a system in the game where an alien race terraforms a 25.3 solar mass O-type main sequence star that’s 30 percent through it’s main sequence lifetime. It’s going to be a blue straggler formed through the merger of two binary stars because I read that blue stragglers are older due to them forming from smaller stars that have a longer stellar evolution. I’m curious about if it’s theoretically possible to refuel the star and remove used up helium in its core? What kind of atmosphere would the planet need to protect life from the up emissions made through it’s black body temperature? And how massive do the original stars need to be to make such a massive star?

Welcome to the weekly digest! This Week: multiverse theory, intelligent life in the universe, bacterial spores on icy moons, and the Kardashev Scale! Plus, recommended content and books

Our Universe May Not Be The Best Suited For Intelligent Life

Whew, this one took some wrapping my head around! Cosmologists at Durham University have developed a model of star formation on universe scales based on the abundances of dark energy. The model calculates the fraction of regular matter converted into stars during the history of the universe, repeating this for numerous dark energy densities. Interestingly, the researchers found that the most efficient universes for star formation possess a ‘matter-to-star’ fraction of ~27%, higher than in our own universe which sits at a measly 23% of matter becoming stars. Now, as the rate of star formation is an integral part of the drake equation (the equation which hypothetically can produce a value for the number of communicating intelligent civilisations in the galaxy), these results indicate our universe is not the most efficient at producing intelligent life when compared to these calculated universes. If you’re a supporter of multiverse theory, this means there may be other universes more effective at producing intelligent life than our own! This paper doesn’t try to tackle the question of intelligent life, but the implications are there pertaining to their results; there is so much more in this paper with regards to cosmology, but I kept this summary a little frivolous!

Research Paper (Open Access)

Phys.org Article

Bacterial Spores in Icy Moon Surface Conditions

Researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have investigated the morphologies of bacterial spores of Bacillus subtilis when exposed to conditions analogous to those of the surface conditions of icy moons. As the moons of Europa and Enceladus are some of the most promising candidates for extraterrestrial microbial life, significant efforts are being undertaken to figure out how to identify biosignatures from them. This paper suggests early life-finding missions to these frigid worlds would be limited to searching the surface and near-surface of the ice crust. Therefore, the authors exposed the bacterial spores to representative combined stressors of radiation, vacuum, and temperature, and found that spore structure and morphology “remained highly recognisable even after the most extreme of exposures”. While all spores in the experiments were inactivated by the extreme conditions, the retention of recognisable morphologies suggests similar species (of icy moon origins) may withstand surface conditions long enough to be reliable and recognisable as a biosignature.

Research Paper (open access)

The Formation of The Earliest Cell Membranes

A key question in the study of the origin of life is how did the first cell membranes form? Their emergence marks a significant step in the development of proto-cells, allowing for chemical gradients and isolated intracellular environments. New research from researchers at the University of California proposes a plausible pathway for lipid membrane formation involving two simple molecules: cysteine (an amino acid) and a short-chain choline thioester. The study addresses a fundamental challenge: how protocell structures emerged without enzymes, which appeared only after life existed. Using silica glass as a catalyst, the team demonstrated that cysteine and thioesters could spontaneously react on its surface to form lipids, even at low concentrations. These lipids assembled into vesicles, rudimentary ‘bubbles’ maintaining an area surrounded by a lipid bilayer. This mechanism offers a compelling explanation for how early molecular precursors could overcome concentration and stability barriers to form the membranes essential for life’s emergence.

Astrobiology.com Article

Research Paper (Restricted Access)

A Reinterpretation of the Kardashev Scale for SETI

In 1964, renowned astronomer Nikolai Kardashev released his highly influential paper in which he established the idea of type I, II, and III civilisations (the Kardashev Scale); categorised by their ability to harness all energy from their host planet, star system, and galaxy respectively. A recent study by Jacob Haqq-Misra and colleagues at the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science reinterprets the Kardashev Scale; traditionally, this scale assumes exponential energy growth, but the study suggests it may represent upper limits rather than trajectories. Civilizations might avoid these limits by adopting diverse strategies, such as prioritizing exploration over energy consumption or harvesting stellar mass instead of stellar energy. This revised framework influences SETI approaches, encouraging researchers to investigate alternative star systems for signs of technological activity, potentially revealing unconventional technosignatures of advanced civilizations.

Phys.org Article

Research Paper (pre print)

Content of The Week

NASA Ask an Astrobiologist: The Future of Life & NASA's Strategy for Astrobiology Research with Dr. David Grinspoon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvW4q_rUP7Y

Book of The Week

The Contact Paradox by Keith Cooper

Given the two papers I’ve featured this week on SETI, I thought I’d stay on theme and recommend a book I read a while ago called “The Contact Paradox” by Keith Cooper. This is a great investigation of humanity’s efforts to connect with extraterrestrial civilizations and the profound societal and scientific questions this search raises.

This book primarily challenges the optimism often associated with SETI, choosing to spend more time on why we haven’t found extraterrestrial intelligence. He covers the Fermi Paradox, great silence, Drake equation, Kardashev scale, and other keystone of SETI. Cooper explores whether reaching out to other civilizations is wise, given our limited understanding of their motives, biology, or even their ability to communicate. He interrogates assumptions about technological progress, suggesting that human biases may cloud our expectations about alien behaviour. Drawing on insights from experts and historical parallels, he deftly addresses key questions: Could aliens misinterpret our messages? What if their values fundamentally conflict with ours? Or, perhaps most unsettling, what if silence is deliberate?

I’d say this is an essential and accessible read for anyone interested in SETI, as it gives a thorough multidisciplinary overview of the subject.

Contact was first published in 2019.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/contact-paradox-9781472960450/

Hello! This is my first time using Reddit so I apologize if this is unorganized.

I’m a freshman in high school and I want to study astrobiology when I’m older and I’m just not sure where to start. I know many questions like this have been answered as I’ve read through the questions answered in this subreddit, but I still get confused by the answers.

I don’t understand much about how colleges work and PhDs and how to study certain fields in college, but I’m trying my best to learn. I know it’s early, but I’m not sure what to do now in Highschool and after Highschool to pursue this type of career. I don’t understand a lot of language used in many of the answers so I ask if anyone can help that they explain it like I’m an idiot because while I know it sounds silly, I just don’t know how else to get the help I need with this. I know what I want to do but I just don’t know where to start.

What should I be doing now in high school? What should I start planning to do in the future? Is there anything you did when you were younger or are doing now that got you where you are now?

Welcome to the weekly digest of Astrobiology news, views, and other bits and bobs I feel like sharing! This Week: exoplanet habitability, astrochemistry, and biosignatures! Plus, recommended content and books!

How Stellar Threats effect the Habitable Zone for Exoplanets

While the habitable zone (HZ) around a star is typically the prime region for supporting life, new research shows that a planet's stellar environment plays a crucial role in its habitability. Factors like nearby supernovae and stellar flybys can pose significant threats to planets in these zones, potentially ejecting them from their orbits or stripping away their atmospheres. Researchers from the Integrated Science Education And Research Centre (of at Visva-Bharati University in India) examined HZ planets in nearby stellar systems, introducing metrics like the Solar Similarity Index (SSI) and Neighbourhood Similarity Index (NSI) to assess these environments' risks. Their findings suggest that while many HZ systems have similar stellar surroundings to our own, certain systems, such as TOI-1227 and HD 48265, face supernova risks, while HD 165155 is vulnerable to stellar encounters. It yet again seems the idea of a habitable zone is not as simple as we’d like.

. https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.22396 (open access)

https://phys.org/news/2024-11-stellar-threats-impact-habitable-zone.html

Generation of complex molecules by Gamma Rays (in interstellar medium)

A recent study shows that gamma radiation can transform methane into a diverse array of organic molecules, including hydrocarbons, oxygenated compounds, and amino acids, even at room temperature. Led by Weixin Huang from the University of Science and Technology of China, the team’s results reveal organic molecule formation pathways in space and may inform industrial methane conversion methods. Gamma rays, present in cosmic rays and decaying isotopes, can drive reactions among simple molecules like methane in interstellar dust and ice. Experimenting with methane at room temperature, the team observed that adding water, oxygen, or ammonia accelerated the formation of products like acetone, acetic acid, and glycine—an amino acid also found in space. Their work suggests that interstellar dust composition affects reaction outcomes and highlights gamma radiation’s potential for converting methane into valuable compounds in industrial chemistry.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202413296 (restricted access)

https://astrobiology.com/2024/11/interstellar-methane-as-progenitor-of-amino-acids.html

Destruction of complex molecules by Gamma Rays (on the surface of Mars)

Researchers from Georgetown University, Washington DC, examine how galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) affect lipid biosignatures like hopanes, steranes, alkanes, and fatty acids (FAs) on Mars, shedding light on their stability and implications for biosignature detection. Lipids degraded much faster than amino acids when exposed to gamma rays (to simulate GCRs), with degradation rates spiking 4–6 times in the presence of salts like NaCl and MgCl₂. Notably, FAs were the only lipids to form detectable by-products, producing alkanes and aldehydes. These findings caution that salty Martian environments, often targeted for their potential to preserve life’s traces, may actually accelerate degradation under radiation. For future Mars missions, the study underscores the importance of seeking out recently exposed rock surfaces or subsurface sites with protection from GCRs to improve the chances of detecting preserved biosignatures. This research highlights the need for refined strategies in selecting sampling sites on Mars to minimize the impact of long-term radiation exposure on potential organic evidence.

https://astrobiology.com/2024/11/rapid-destruction-of-lipid-biomarkers-under-simulated-cosmic-radiation.html

https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/ast.2024.0006 (open access)

Distinguishing Biosignatures on Icy moons

As we have recently been sending probes to the Europa, and with growing interest of Enceladus, the ability to discern whether detected molecules are of biotic or abiotic origin becomes highly important. Distinguishing between the two requires a new approach: analysing the energy involved in creating these molecules. On Earth, life utilizes energy-releasing reactions to drive biosynthesis. Applying this to space, if a molecule is thermodynamically unstable in its environment, it may indicate life using it as an energy source; if stable, it likely formed abiotically.

This framework is demonstrated on Enceladus, Saturn’s icy moon, where Cassini detected organic compounds in its plume gases. Calculations suggest these molecules could form naturally, hinting at abiotic origins. Nonetheless, this method provides a powerful tool for future missions, helping us refine our search for genuine biosignatures across varied planetary environments.

https://astrobiology.com/2024/11/distinguishing-potential-organic-biosignatures-on-ocean-worlds-from-abiotic-geochemical-products-using-thermodynamic-calculations-2.html

https://chemrxiv.org/engage/chemrxiv/article-details/6718180312ff75c3a13a58bf (open access working paper)

Content of The Week

The Guardian Science Weekly Podcast: Could We Really Live on Mars?

Given the eagerness of some people to set up a habitable colony on Mars, this podcast explores the feasibility of such an endeavour by interviewing two experts in the field. Prof Sanjeev Gupta of Imperial College London gives the host (Madeleine Finlay) an overview of the climate, habitat, geology, and weather of the red planet. Author Kelly Weinersmith then explains how difficult life on Mars may realistically be, while exploring some societal issues a colony may face.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2024/nov/05/could-we-really-live-on-mars-podcast

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1aOEfzD1EVjMdfP7h1FKTD?si=7eb601030bce422f

Book of The Week

This week I read ‘Contact’ by Carl Sagan, in its entirety. It’s definitely one of those books you can’t put down! It’s a book I feel I should have read much earlier, as an astrobiologist, as it’s written by the legendary scientist, communicator, and co-founder of SETI. In this fiction novel he explores how the world may react to a radio signal from a supposed extraterrestrial origin, pulling from his vast experience of astrophysics. The novel follows the journey of a radio astronomer through the initial detection of the signal, all the way through to the climax of the story, which I will not spoil for you! Sagan’s understanding of human psychology, and society result in a highly compelling and highly plausible world within the story. His predictions of a near-future are highly grounded in science and full of small details that feel targeted to those with a science background. Although, ‘Contact’ isn’t just a straight cut sci-fi; the novel explores implications of an extraterrestrial signal with regards to religion and politics, and effectively presents a dialogue between science and religion with profound ideas. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in SETI, and contemplating our place in the universe.

Contact was first published in 1986, and is now published by Orbit. It was adapted into a film in 1997.

https://www.orbit-books.co.uk/titles/carl-sagan-4/contact/9780356518848/

Hello everyone. According to the analysis of samples taken from the Ryugu asteroid, all proteinogenic amino acids present in non-racemic mixtures and all non-proteinogenic amino acids are almost racemic. It's strange to me that this fact has hardly been discussed anywhere. Do you have any thoughts about this?

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772391724000215#bib0037

Welcome to this weekly digest of Astrobiology news, views, and other bits and bobs I feel like sharing! If this is received well, I hope to produce one of these posts each week (where I have time) to showcase the latest research and discoveries in the field.

Miranda: A Potential New Oceanic Icy Moon

Researchers have this week published results of in-depth visual analysis of Uranus’ Moon Miranda. Their results suggest this small, distant satellite may possess a sub-surface ocean, evidenced by rugged surface features such as cracks and ridges, which are also observed on the other sub-surface ocean possessing moons of Europa and Enceladus. The presence of a sub-surface ocean here may increase the prospects of habitability in this moon, making it the furthest object from the sun on which we think life may be possible. Provided enough geothermal energy is present, or internal heat from tidal forces, life may have suitable energy stores. However, more research needed to characterise the moon further before any serious speculation of habitability can be carried out.

Research Paper (Open access)

Accessible Article (Phys.org)

Perseverance Rover Finds Some Peculiar Rocks on Mars

NASA has released images of a newly discovered red and green rock formation in the ‘Serpentine Rapids’ of Neretva Vallis on Mars. Discovered by the perseverance rover, these geological oddities resemble oxidised iron which has subsequently been reduced prior to hardening of sediment. On Earth, iron reduction can be the result of microbial activity, however it can also occur abiotically in reactions between sulphur and iron. To definitively determine their formation, sample return missions or in-situ analysis must be carried out, both of which seem many years away. Regardless, this marks another interesting piece of potential evidence towards ancient Martian life. Notice the uncertainty in my tone, don’t go telling people we’ve found Martians!

NASA Article

Rocky Planets of M-Dwarf Stars May Maintain Stable Atmospheres

Simulations of planetary formation of a rocky planet of the TRAPPIST-1 system has revealed where planets are further from the star (in the ‘goldilocks zone’ where liquid water is maintainable) a stable atmosphere can be maintained. While light gasses do escape initially, reactions between hydrogen, oxygen, and iron in the planetary interior produce heavier gases, including water, which help maintain a stable atmosphere. This water is also precipitated rapidly as rainfall, preventing atmospheric escape. These simulated findings give further credence to the suggestions that one or multiple of the TRAPPIST-1 exoplanets may be habitable. Future research using James Webb Space Telescope should focus on these planets to determine the presence of at atmosphere practically.

Research Paper (Open Access)

Accessible Article (astrobiology.com)

The Origins of Life: Organic Rich Atmosphere on Early Earth

Researchers from three Japanese universities have developed a model to explore how Earth’s atmosphere evolved to support life. Early Earth had a hostile atmosphere, rich in hydrogen and methane, which reacted under UV light to form organic molecules. However, because the atmosphere was unstable and reacted constantly, understanding UV’s exact role has been tricky. The new model suggests that methane-derived hydrocarbons likely blocked much of the incoming UV radiation, stabilizing the atmosphere and allowing an "organic soup" to accumulate. This could have provided the essential ingredients for life. The study sheds light on why Earth’s atmosphere evolved so differently from nearby planets like Venus and Mars, helping us understand what makes Earth unique, and what it might mean for life on other planets.

Research Paper (Restricted Access)

Accessible Article (phys.org)

Content of The Week

Exocast-75b: Radial Velocity Surveys of Young Planets with Dr. Louise Nielsen

In the latest episode of the Exocast Podcast, the hosts chat with Dr. Louise Nielsen, of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich, about the radial velocity method of exoplanet detection.

Exocast Website

Spotify Link

Book of The Week

I’ve this week finished reading ‘The Copernicus Complex: The Quest for Our Cosmic (In)Significance’ By Dr Caleb Scharf. This was an excellent romp through everything that makes Planet Earth and the life upon it so special, and puts it into perspective with the search for habitable exoplanets and life beyond Earth and our solar system. Dr Scharf expertly weaves a narrative through the history of space science, while eloquently explaining physical, astronomical, biological and philosophical concepts pertaining to our place in the universe. Are we insignificant in the grand scale of space time? Or does our seemingly unmatched uniqueness make us the most significant planet we know of? Dr Scharf’s writing is accessible to those new to the subject field, while also being engaging and insightful to those who may know a lot about astrobiology and astrophysics.

‘The Copernicus Complex: The Quest for Our Cosmic (In)Significance’ was first published in 2014, and is now published by Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Random House UK.

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/188182/the-copernicus-complex-by-caleb-scharf/9780141974934

Thanks for taking a look at this post, I look forward to possible lively debate and discussions in the comments!

Good day. Does anyone know a few ways to contribute to astrobio citizen science? Like some online community that work together, maybe GitHub repos?

It'd be kind of a play on 2001: a space odyssey, and would be about a very old, maybe-eldritch half-human character visiting a different planet and watching a species evolve and come into sapience, and kinda taking the place of the obelisk, just kinda being there at the moments when this species makes its most important advancements

But it would be from the point of view of the emerging species, and the legends they tell about him

Idk exactly what the species will look like, but very different from humans, the half-human character will look entirely alien to them

They'll probably have some sort of shiny chitin or something? Just for the comparison of that to the half-human's (black, shiny) suit. Also a different number of limbs, again, for the comparison (why does this being only have 4? Did someone rip off the others? D: )

I guess the first things to figure out would be 1) what things in humanity's history would be considered important achievements, and 2) what paradigms of life on earth do and don't apply to them

I'm gonna start with 2, because that seems easier to narrow down, I think

-All lifeforms would need a source of energy, be it from their planet's star, or geothermal vents, or something else -They would most likely need physical bodies of some sort, which means that they'd need nutrients/physical matter for them to build their bodies out of -They'd need some sort of way to reproduce, and some sort of way for mutations to arise (otherwise, they wouldn't be able to evolve) This doesn't have to be a DNA analogue, but that might be the easiest to explain/conceptualize --Following from the previous, there would likely also be biodiversity, as things mutate in all sorts of different ways -I would also need them to eventually develop ways to learn, and to communicate, as shared knowledge is one of the things that makes a society, I think -I want them to have some sort of ongoing conflict, for two reasons: 1) I feel like social conflict is one of the main things that made our brains grow more powerful, and 2) an organism that has everything it needs and doesn't have to strive for anything is a happy organism, but a boring one

So, I have two main ideas:

1. they live near geothermal vents, at the bottom of an ocean frozen under a thick layer of ice.

-One of their triumphs is when they break through the layer and see the stars for the first time. -The main limiter of this species is space: they need to be a certain distance from the vents, and there's only so many organisms that can occupy that space at one time. -This would likely result in a relatively small community, at least until they develop the ability to store energy long enough to travel to other vents. --This might make (most of) the species overall more adventurous? Since aside from the ones at the original vent, they'd all be descended from the ones that were willing to go out into the cold and the dark to see what was there.

2. they photosynthesize (basically sentient trees? Maybe with big fins for catching the sun, rather than leaves?)

-They can move their limbs (they do this often, and eventually develop a network of themselves that can move things along to other locations/specific individuals) -I feel like this would result in a v cooperative community, also internet vibes to their communications? -I see no real limiters with this species; there's a lot of land, a lot of water, and a lot of sun. Maybe their main conflicts are external (bug analogues, etc) or social (convincing the other ones around you to do what you want)? I feel like the former might lead to an "us vs. them" kind of mentality in the species, and the latter might compound it. Not sure whether or not that would be a good thing for the story. -Maybe they can also move their roots? (If so, they're not very good at it, and only do it when necessary.)

The other cool thing I thought of, that could honestly be applied to either species, is that they develop tendrils that can drill into another creature and take its nutrients/energy for itself. -The ones that are the most successful are the ones that learn that taking good care of the creatures that they're attached to also means that they themselves fare better) -Eventually, it becomes a cultural thing; they start breeding creatures to make good familiars (docile, mostly sedentary/able to be uprooted and moved, if necessary, depending on which species I go with, good at producing excess energy, good pain tolerance, etc). -They might become a status symbol, too, or at least a look into the personality of the owner.

That's about all I have so far, any input is greatly appreciated <3