Mars is considered to be one of the most favourable places in the Solar System to search for past and present life. In the past Mars was warmer and wetter, so terrestrial halophiles can be regarded as analogues of hypothetical ancient Martian halophiles. In this study we used microorganisms from unique Altai region (Russia) to estimate the capability of terrestrial bacteria and archaea to survive at low temperatures and high concentration of salts and metals, similar to the Martian environment. The current report demonstrates that both halophilic archaea and halotolerant bacteria from saline lakes of the Altai region may be considered as analogues of ancient Martian organisms, since they are able to withstand conditions that hypothetically existed in subsurface layers of the early Mars (low temperatures, salt solutions with a high content of NaCl) with only slight decrease in viability. We also found that the studied microorganisms can use some organic substances found in meteorites. We consider that transfer of unicellular halophiles from Earth to Mars was possible, and, moreover, they could successfully survive and grow on early Mars. Adjusting our growth media to the chemical composition of the lakes, from which the studied strains were isolated, resulted in significant increase in survival and growth rates. Certain strains could survive several freeze–thaw cycles at −70 °C typical for Martian nights.

Interstellar signals might be intermittent for many reasons, such as targeted sequential transmissions, isotropic broadcasts that are not 'on' continuously or many other reasons. The time interval between such signals would be important, because searchers would need to observe for long enough to achieve an initial detection and possibly determine a period. This article suggests that: (1) the power requirements of interstellar transmissions could be reduced by orders of magnitude by strategies that would result in intermittent signals, (2) planetary rotation might constrain some transmissions to be intermittent and in some cases to have the period of the source planet, and (3) signals constrained by planetary rotation might often have a cadence in the range of 10–25 h, if the majority of planets in our Solar system are taken as a guide. Extended observations might be needed to detect intermittent signals and are rarely used in SETI but are feasible, and seem appropriate when observing large concentrations of stars or following up on good candidate signals.

Motivated by the occurrence of a moderately nearby supernova near the beginning of the Pleistocene, possibly as part of a long-term series beginning in the Miocene, we investigated whether nitrate rainout resulting from the atmospheric ionization of enhanced cosmic ray flux could have, through its fertilizer effect, initiated carbon dioxide drawdown. Such a drawdown could possibly reduce the greenhouse effect and induce the climate change that led to the Pleistocene glaciations. We estimate that the nitrogen flux enhancement onto the surface from an event at 50 pc would be of order 10%, probably too small for dramatic changes. We estimate deposition of iron (another potential fertilizer) and find it is also too small to be significant. There are also competing effects of opposite sign, including muon irradiation and reduction in photosynthetic yield caused by UV increase from stratospheric ozone layer depletion, leading to an ambiguous result. However, if the atmospheric ionization induces a large increase in the frequency of lightning, as argued elsewhere, the amount of nitrate synthesis should be much larger, dominate over the other effects and induce the climate change. More work needs to be done to clarify the effects on lightning frequency.

The paper describes the architecture for a data repository and distribution system to be used in the case of a SETI detection event. This system is conceptually modelled after the Deep Space Network, although the hardware and infrastructure involved are different and substantially less expensive to operate. The system is designed to accommodate a large number of users from a variety of fields who wish to contribute to the analysis and comprehension effort that would follow the detection of an information-bearing signal.

The extremotolerant bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans is used as a model to explore the limits of life on Earth and beyond. In experiments performed in an ultra-high vacuum chamber with a vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) synchrotron beamline, this microorganism was exposed to conditions present on an extraterrestrial environment unprotected by an atmosphere, such as outside a spacecraft or on an asteroid, relevant in the context of planetary protection and panspermia hypothesis. Different methods were used to obtain the biologically relevant information from this investigation. Counting of colony forming units, the traditional approach for viability assessment, is limited to measuring the survival of the cells. For a more in-depth study of damage mechanisms at subcellular levels, specific molecular probes (propidium iodide and dihydrorhodamine 123) were applied and whole populations could be analysed, cell by cell, by flow cytometry. VUV radiation caused a substantial loss of viability, though only a fraction of the cells presented membrane damages even at the largest tested fluences. Additionally, intracellular oxidative stress was also detected upon exposure. These results point to significant VUV inactivating effects extending beyond the cells' outermost structures, in contrast to a more superficial role that could be expected due to the highly interacting nature of this radiation range. Nevertheless, it was observed that microscopic-level shading sufficed to allow the persistence of a small surviving subpopulation for the longer expositions. This study contributes to unveiling the response of biological systems under space conditions, assessing not just cell viability but also the mechanisms that lead to inactivation.

How special (or not) is the epoch we are living in? What is the appropriate reference class for embedding the observations made at the present time? How probable – or else – is anything we observe in the fulness of time? Contemporary cosmology and astrobiology bring those seemingly old-fashioned philosophical issues back into focus. There are several examples of contemporary research which use the assumption of typicality in time (or temporal Copernicanism) explicitly or implicitly, while not truly elaborating upon the meaning of this assumption. The present paper brings attention to the underlying and often uncritically accepted assumptions in these cases. It also aims to defend a more radical position that typicality in time is not – and cannot ever be – well-defined, in contrast to the typicality in space, and the typicality in various specific parameter spaces. This, of course, does not mean that we are atypical in time; instead, the notion of typicality in time is necessarily somewhat vague and restricted. In principle, it could be strengthened by further defining the relevant context, e.g. by referring to typicality within the Solar lifetime, or some similar restricting clause.

Photosynthesis offers a convenient means of sustaining biospheres. We quantify the constraints for photosynthesis to be functional on the permanent nightside of tidally locked rocky exoplanets via reflected light from their exomoons. We show that the exomoons must be at least half the size of Earth's moon in order for conventional oxygenic photosynthesis to operate. This scenario of photosynthesis is unlikely for exoplanets around late-type M-dwarfs due to the low likelihood of large exomoons and their orbital instability over long timescales. Subsequently, we investigate the prospects for photosynthesis on habitable exomoons via reflected light from the giant planets that they orbit. Our analysis indicates that such photosynthetic biospheres are potentially sustainable on these moons except those around late-type M-dwarfs. We conclude our analysis by delineating certain physiological and biochemical features of photosynthesis and other carbon fixation pathways, and the likelihood of their evolution on habitable planets and moons.

The Drake equation has been used many times to estimate the number of observable civilizations in the galaxy. However, the uncertainty of the outcome is so great that any individual result is of limited use, as predictions can range from a handful of observable civilizations in the observable universe to tens of millions per Milky Way-sized galaxy. A statistical investigation shows that the Drake equation, despite its uncertainties, delivers robust predictions of the likelihood that the prevalent form of intelligence in the universe is artificial rather than biological. The likelihood of artificial intelligence far exceeds the likelihood of biological intelligence in all cases investigated. This conclusion is contingent upon a limited number of plausible assumptions. The significance of this outcome for the Fermi paradox is discussed.

Scientific discovery, especially at the boundaries of human observational capacity, is an extended, incremental and sometimes controversy-laden process; but practicing researchers' published statements do not always portray it as such. If extraterrestrial life (ETL) exists, and if we find it, the process of observation, interpretation, understanding and confirmation may take decades. Though it is, thus, likely that scientific consensus will accrue around an ETL interpretation in a gradual and subtle process, the general public and even practicing scientists often discuss ETL discovery as though it will be rapid and dramatic. To illustrate this phenomenon, this review analyses a convenience sample of astronomers', astrobiologists' and astrosociologists' statements and assumptions in scholarly and general-audience media regarding a prospective discovery of ETL. Of 30 surveyed scholarly studies and 37 surveyed general-audience pieces, 24 scholarly and scientists' perspectives in 32 general-audience pieces do not acknowledge the extended nature of scientific discovery; and only three and four, respectively, do so explicitly. These results suggest that ETL researchers' statements could often portray an inaccurate or at least atypical vision of scientific progress in their own studies and to general-audience media outlets.

Some stochastic model of rumours asserts that even an advanced communication network does not guarantee every agent hears certain news because they predict that rumour spreaders convert to stifflers when contacted with an informed agent. In this study, we adapted two rumour spread models to interstellar communication by developing an agent-based model (ABM) for exploring the issue more rigorously. We enhanced the spread models by adding two additional parameters called conversion probability and stop-criterion, which represent the eagerness and persistency of civilizations to establish new contacts. Results of the ABM under several settings suggest that limited SETI searches lead to undiscovered civilizations. Earth may be one of these undiscovered civilizations although an advanced communication network might already be set up. Hence, we speculate that rumour spread models can propose another solution to Fermi's Paradox.

Autonomous exploration requires the use of movable platforms that carry a payload of instruments with a certain level of autonomy and communication with the operators. This is particularly challenging in subsurface environments, which may be more dangerous for human access and where communication with the surface is limited. Subsurface robotic exploration, which has been to date very limited, is interesting not only for science but also for cost-effective industrial exploitation of resources and safety assessments in mines. Furthermore, it has a direct application to exploration of extra-terrestrial subsurface environments of astrobiological and geological significance such as caves, lava tubes, impact or volcanic craters and subglacial conduits, for deriving in-situ mineralogical resources and establishing preliminary settlements. However, the technological solutions are generally tailor-made and are therefore considered as costly, fragile and environment-specific, further hindering their extensive and effective applications. To demonstrate the advantages of rover exploration for a broad-community, we have developed KORE (KOmpact Rover for Exploration); a low-cost, re-usable, rover multi-purpose platform. The rover platform has been developed as a technological demonstration for extra-terrestrial subsurface exploration and terrestrial mining operations pertaining to geomorphological mapping, environmental monitoring, gas leak detections and search and rescue operations in case of an accident. The present paper, the first part of a series of two, focuses on describing the development of a robust rover platform to perform dedicated geomorphological, astrobiological and mining tasks. KORE was further tested in the Mine Analogue Research 6 (MINAR6) campaign during September 2018 in the Boulby mine (UK), the second deepest potash mine in Europe at a subsurface depth of 1.1 km, the results of which will be presented in the second paper of this series. KORE is a large, semi-autonomous rover weighing 160 kg with L × W × H dimensions 1.2 m × 0.8 m × 1 m and a payload carrying capacity of 100 kg using 800 W traction power that can power to a maximum speed of 8.4 km h−1. The rover can be easily dismantled in three parts facilitating its transportation to any chosen site of exploration. Presently, the main scientific payloads on KORE are: (1) a three-dimensional mapping camera, (2) a methane detection system, (3) an environmental station capable of monitoring temperature, relative humidity, pressure and gases such as NO2, SO2, H2S, formaldehyde, CO, CO2, O3, O2, volatile organic compounds and particulates and (4) a robotic arm. Moreover, the design of the rover allows for integration of more sensors as per the scientific requirements in future expeditions. At the MINAR6 campaign, the technical readiness of KORE was demonstrated during 6 days of scientific research in the mine, with a total of 22 h of operation.

We discuss the prospects of high precision pointing of our transmitter to habitable planets around Galactic main sequence stars. For an efficient signal delivery, the future sky positions of the host stars should be appropriately extrapolated with accuracy better than the beam opening angle Θ of the transmitter. Using the latest data release (DR2) of Gaia, we estimate the accuracy of the extrapolations individually for 4.7 × 107 FGK stars, and find that the total number of targets could be ~107 for the accuracy goal better than 1″. Considering the pairwise nature of communication, our study would be instructive also for SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), not only for sending signals outward.

Environmental conditions have changed in the past of our planet but were not hostile enough to extinguish life. In the future, an aged Earth and a more luminous Sun may lead to harsh or even uninhabitable conditions for life. In order to estimate the life span of the biosphere we built a minimal model of the co-evolution of the geosphere, atmosphere and biosphere of our planet, taking into account temperature boundaries, CO2 partial pressure lower limits for C3 and C4 plants, and the presence of enough surface water. Our results indicate that the end of the biosphere will happen long before the Sun becomes a red giant, as the biosphere faces increasingly more difficult conditions in the future until its collapse due to high temperatures. The lower limit for CO2 partial pressure for C3 plants will be reached in 170(+ 320, − 110) Myr, followed by the C4 plants limit in 840(+ 270, − 100) Myr. The mean surface temperature will reach 373 K in 1.63(+ 0.14, − 0.05) Gyr, a point that would mark the extinction of the biosphere. Water loss due to internal geophysical processes will not be dramatic, implying almost no variation in the surface ocean mass and ocean depth for the next 1.5 billion years. Our predictions show qualitative convergence and some quantitative agreement with results found in the literature, but there is considerable scattering in the scale of hundreds of millions of years for all the criteria devised. Even considering these uncertainties, the end of the biosphere will hardly happen sooner than 1.5 Gyr.

First contact with another civilization, or simply another intelligence of some kind, will likely be quite different depending on whether that intelligence is more or less advanced than ourselves. If we assume that the lifetime distribution of intelligences follows an approximately exponential distribution, one might naively assume that the pile-up of short-lived entities dominates any detection or contact scenario. However, it is argued here that the probability of contact is proportional to the age of said intelligence (or possibly stronger), which introduces a selection effect. We demonstrate that detected intelligences will have a mean age twice that of the underlying (detected + undetected) population, using the exponential model. We find that our first contact will most likely be with an older intelligence, provided that the maximum allowed mean lifetime of the intelligence population, τmax, is ≥ e times larger than our own. Older intelligences may be rare but they disproportionately contribute to first contacts, introducing what we call a ‘contact inequality’, analogous to wealth inequality. This reasoning formalizes intuitional arguments and highlights that first contact would likely be one-sided, with ramifications for how we approach SETI.

It has been recently proposed DeVito [(2019) On the meaning of Fermi's paradox. Futures, 389–414] that a minimal number of contacts with alien radio-communicative civilizations could be justified by their logarithmically slow rate of growth in the Galaxy. Here we further develop this approach to the Fermi paradox, with the purpose of expanding the ensemble of the possible styles of growth that are consistent with the hypothesis of a minimal number of contacts. Generalizing the approach in DeVito (2019), we show that a logarithmic style of growth is still found. We also find that a style of growth following a power law would be admissible, however characterized by an exponent less than one, hence describing a sublinear increase in the number of communicative civilizations, still qualitatively in agreement with DeVito (2019). No solutions are found indicating a superlinear increase in the number of communicative civilizations, following for example an exponentially diverging law, which would cause, in the long run, an unsustainable proliferation. Although largely speculative, our findings corroborate the idea that a sublinear rate of increase in the number of communicative civilizations in the Galaxy could constitute a further resolution of Fermi paradox, implying a constant and minimal – but not zero – number of contacts.

The objective of this study was to identify attitudes towards the scientific search for extraterrestrial life among students from public and private universities in Peru. This research was inspired by similar studies, realized in Sweden, which used the same instrument adapting it to our reality. The process consisted of a survey of the Peruvian student population by targeting it in different regions of Peru. The sample consisted of 1237 students from different academic areas. The findings show that 92% of the students believe in the existence of life outside our planet, with differences between the subgroups surveyed.

In this paper we consider efficiency of self-reproducing extraterrestrial Von-Neumann micro scale robots and analyse the observational characteristics. By examining the natural scenario of moving in the HII clouds, it has been found that the timescale of replication might be several years and even less – making the process of observation quite promising. We have shown that by encountering the interstellar protons the probes might be visible at least in the infrared energy band and the corresponding luminosities might reach enormous values.

The Kepler data show that habitable small planets orbiting Red Dwarf stars (RDs) are abundant, and hence might be promising targets to look at for biomarkers and life. Planets orbiting within the habitable zone of RDs are close enough to be tidally locked. Some recent works have cast doubt on the ability of planets orbiting RDs to support life. In contrast, it is shown that temperatures suitable for liquid water and even for organic molecules may exist on tidally locked planets (TLPs) of RDs for a wide range of atmospheres. We chart the surface temperature distribution as a function of the irradiation, greenhouse factor and heat circulation. The habitability boundaries and their dependence on the atmospheric properties are derived. By extending our previous analyses of TLPs, we find that tidally locked as well as synchronous (not completely locked) planets of RDs and K-type stars may support life, for a wider range of orbital distance and atmospheric conditions than previously thought. In particular, it is argued that life clement environments may be possible on tidally locked and synchronously orbiting planets of RDs and K-type stars, with conditions supporting oxygenic photosynthesis, which on Earth was a key to complex life. Different climate projections and the biological significance of tidal locking on putative complex life are reviewed. We show that when the effect of continuous radiation is taken into account, the photo-synthetically active radiation available on TLPs, even of RDs, could produce a high-potential plant productivity, in analogy to mid-summer growth at high latitudes on Earth. Awaiting the findings of TESS and JWST, we discuss the implications of the above arguments to the detection of biomarkers such as liquid water and oxygen, as well as to the abundance of biotic planets and life.

The search for life in the Universe is a fundamental problem of astrobiology and modern science. The current progress in the detection of terrestrial-type exoplanets has opened a new avenue in the characterization of exoplanetary atmospheres and in the search for biosignatures of life with the upcoming ground-based and space missions. To specify the conditions favourable for the origin, development and sustainment of life as we know it in other worlds, we need to understand the nature of global (astrospheric), and local (atmospheric and surface) environments of exoplanets in the habitable zones (HZs) around G-K-M dwarf stars including our young Sun. Global environment is formed by propagated disturbances from the planet-hosting stars in the form of stellar flares, coronal mass ejections, energetic particles and winds collectively known as astrospheric space weather. Its characterization will help in understanding how an exoplanetary ecosystem interacts with its host star, as well as in the specification of the physical, chemical and biochemical conditions that can create favourable and/or detrimental conditions for planetary climate and habitability along with evolution of planetary internal dynamics over geological timescales. A key linkage of (astro)physical, chemical and geological processes can only be understood in the framework of interdisciplinary studies with the incorporation of progress in heliophysics, astrophysics, planetary and Earth sciences. The assessment of the impacts of host stars on the climate and habitability of terrestrial (exo)planets will significantly expand the current definition of the HZ to the biogenic zone and provide new observational strategies for searching for signatures of life. The major goal of this paper is to describe and discuss the current status and recent progress in this interdisciplinary field in light of presentations and discussions during the NASA Nexus for Exoplanetary System Science funded workshop ‘Exoplanetary Space Weather, Climate and Habitability’ and to provide a new roadmap for the future development of the emerging field of exoplanetary science and astrobiology.

The habitable zone is the circumstellar region in which a terrestrial-mass planet with an atmosphere can sustain liquid water on its surface. However, despite the usefulness of this concept, it is being found to be increasingly limited in a number of ways. The following is known: (i) Liquid water can exist on worlds for reasons unrelated to its specific distance from a star. (ii) Energy sources can exist for reasons unrelated to the distance to a star. Furthermore, the habitable zone is based on both astronomy – the distance and stellar energy – and chemistry – liquid water and the right temperature. However, these factors are only part of the consideration. Thus, discussions of habitability and the possibility for the emergence of life on a world must consider the evolutionary principles that govern life as well as the laws that govern stellar and planetary science. This is important because the following is also known: (iii) The temporal window for the emergence of life is within 600 million years. (iv) The Earth was an extreme environment overall in the period when this window existed. (v) The first life was necessarily fragile. Therefore, chemical evolution must have taken place in a relatively protected and restricted environment. Thus, rather than as in the Goldilocks zone, which focuses too narrowly on the world as a whole, this paper suggests that it is better to focus on a particular region and time period on a world, in which conditions fit for habitability exist. Thus, the following is suggested: ‘The Goldilocks Edge is a spatial and temporal window on an astronomical body or planemo, where liquid solvents, SPONCH elements and energy sources exist’. Furthermore, since the mere presence of these does not necessarily lead to the emergence of life, this possibility only arises when these interact. Thus, it will also be suggested that the following can exist within the Goldilocks Edge: ‘The great prebiotic spot is an environmentally relaxed and semi-shielded area on an otherwise extreme world, wherein conditions advantageous for chemical evolution exist’. Such Goldilocks Edges and the great prebiotic spots within them can collectively represent the full distribution of possibilities for life in a solar system. Thus, the concept of a ‘limbus mundi’ or ‘world's edge’ is introduced.