Life Sciences and Space Research: v.23(COSPAR)

This volume contains 29 papers and presents the proceedings of six meetings and workshops all concerned with planetary biology and origins of life. Exobiology in Space reports on the results of space flight missions. Chemical and Early Biochemical Evolution covers topics such as formation of organic molecules in interstellar dust grains, the possible incorporation of such grains in comets and their contribution to the Earth's early atmosphere and hydrosphere. The papers presented on the subject of Life without Oxygen focus on the strategies of existing anaerobic organisms to achieve growth and replication wihout oxygen as electron acceptor. Evolutionary and exobiological aspects are discussed with methanogenic archaeobacteria, their biochemistry and microbiology being the centre point of interest. Early Environment of Mars - Potential for Chemical Evolution is featured in Chapter 4. The workshop on Planetary Protection Issues and Sample Return Missions explores a variety of subjects associated with the application of Planetary Protection (PP) procedures to sample return missions from comets and Mars.

Table of Contents:
Section headings and selected papers: Exobiology in Space. Exobiology: results of spaceflight missions, H D Mennigmann. Chemical and Early Biochemical Evolution. Synthesis of organic compounds in interstellar dust and their transport to earth via comets, J M Greenberg. Modification of simple organic solids in space: energetic carbon interactions with solid methane, A Patnaik et al . A quantitative assay of biologically important compounds in simulated primitive earth experiments, Y Honda et al . Nucleic acid analogues and the origins of replication, A W Schwartz. Life Without Oxygen. Microbiology and biochemistry of the methanogenic archaeobacteria, D R Abbanat et al . Present-day biogeochemical activities of anaerobic bacteria and their relevance to future exobiological investigations, R S Oremland. Early Environment of Mars: Potential for Chemical Evolution. Development of Alba Patera volcano on Mars, J Raitala. Biological nitrogen fixation under primordial Martian partial pressures of dinitrogen, J M Klingler et al . Planetary Protection Issues and Sample Return Missions. Planetary protection policy overview and application to future missions, J D Rummel. Peroxides and survivability of microorganisms on the surface of Mars, R L Mancinelli. Modulation of Biological Evolution by Astrophysical Phenomena. Periodic mass extinctions: difficulty with astronomical explanations, M E Bailey et al . Author Index.