Life in Solid Ice on Earth and Other Planetary Bodies

• Published in: Symposium - International Astronomical Union
• Main Author: Price, P. Buford
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2004
• Subjects: Ice; ice core; permafrost
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0074180900193556; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0074180900193556

Theory and direct observation indicate that micro-organisms exist in liquid veins in ice and permafrost, provided the temperature is above the eutectic for H 2 O and soluble impurities present. Microbes can exist and metabolize in glacial ice and permafrost on Earth, Mars, and Europa. One can search directly (with fluorescence microscopy at liquid veins in Vostok ice core samples) or with a biologging instrument (for microbial fluorescence in a borehole in terrestrial or martian permafrost or ice). The viability lifetime against DNA destruction of bacterial spores can be measured with analytical techniques that identify calcium dipicolinate, which is unique to spores.