Descripción del proyecto
Los lagos ricos en carbonato podrían albergar pistas esenciales sobre el origen de la vida
¿Cómo se originó la vida en la Tierra? ¿Alguna vez hubo vida en Marte? Investigaciones recientes sostienen que los lagos ricos en carbonato podrían haber constituido el mejor lugar para reunir los componentes químicos básicos de la vida. El objetivo del proyecto MaPLE, financiado por las Acciones Marie Skłodowska-Curie, es realizar trabajo de campo, simulaciones de laboratorio, modelización geoquímica y análisis de datos derivados de misiones espaciales para estudiar el fósforo disuelto en un lago terrestre rico en carbonato, un elemento fundamental para los procesos orgánicos. Los resultados se compararán con los datos del vehículo todo terreno Perseverance de la misión Mars 2020 de la NASA que, en 2021, aterrizó en el cráter Jezero, uno de los pocos lugares de Marte donde se ha identificado la presencia de carbonatos.
Objetivo
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.
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MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinador
28006 Madrid
España