MaPLE · Mars Phosphorus and LifE
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2021-10-01 → 2024-01-20
- EU contribution
- €172,932
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Mars Phosphorus and LifE
How did life first emerge on Earth? What type of environments did gather all the ingredients for life to occur? Did Mars ever host life? These challenging questions are the base of the Mars Phosphorus and LifE (MaPLE) project, that emerged from the exciting idea that carbonate-rich lakes might have been terrestrial cradles of life, as very recently proposed, with strong implications for the inception of life on Mars. One of the central mysteries that astrobiologists face is addressing how life originated and where the building blocks (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur; CHNOPS) came from. P is an essential part of the nucleic acids, phospho-lipids and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) molecules, present in all forms of life. However, P on Earth is scarce as it is locked in low solubility phosphate minerals, raising the fundamental and long-lasting question about where early life got its P supply, the so-called ‘phosphate problem’. The primary goals of the MaPLE project are twofold: first, to explore the possibility that carbonates on early Mars could have harbored sufficient dissolved phosphorus to create environments conducive to the origin and evolution of life; and second, to evaluate the habitability of extraterrestrial environments, using crucial insights from the Mars2020 mission.Achieving these objectives will position carbonate-rich settings as prime targets for future planetary explorations across other planets or moons where carbonates may be identified, opening an exciting line of investigation about specific environments conducive to the origin of life. To facilitate this,the project examines Archean (~3 Ga) carbonates along with iron- and sulfur-rich rocks from Canada, utilizing them as a Mars analogue for early life on Earth.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
How did life first emerge on Earth? What type of environments did gather all the ingredients for life to occur? Did Mars ever host life? These challenging questions are the base of the Mars Phosphorus and LifE (MaPLE) project, outlined in this proposal. It emerges from the exciting idea that carbonate-rich lakes might have been terrestrial cradles of life, as very recently proposed, with strong implications for the inception of life on Mars. The MaPLE project is an interdisciplinary research that will be carried out at the Spanish Centre for Astrobiology (CAB), in Madrid. Field work, lab simulations, geochemical modelling and space missions data analysis will be combined to study dissolved phosphorus (P), the key element in all forms of life, in a terrestrial carbonate-rich lake, to approach the environmental conditions required for life on Earth and its applicability on early Mars. Results will be compared to data from the recently launched NASA Mars2020 mission, which will land at the Jezero crater in February 2021, one of the few places on Mars where carbonates have been identified. This makes the MaPLE project extremely timely and novel as it will be the first time that both Martian and terrestrial rocks, where life could have arisen, may be evaluated simultaneously. Results may open a new exciting line of investigation that sets carbonate-rich environments as preferential targets in future planetary missions to other planets or moons. This project will be carried out by F. Cañadas, who bets on a return strategy to Spain after a MSc and PhD in UK. It will bring her an exceptional opportunity to thrive in an exciting scientific environment, ideal to expand her solid geochemical background with complementary methodologies and personal skills. Altogether, the MaPLE project will place her in an extraordinary position to become an independent scientist of high international visibility in the very promising and rapidly growing field of Astrobiology.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS · MadridCoordinatorSpain
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union