Abstract
The science goals of the Life in the Atacama (LITA) robotic field experiment are to understand habitat and seek out life in the Atacama Desert, Chile, as an analog to future missions to Mars. To those ends, we present a new data analysis tool, the LITA Data Scoring System (DSS), which (1) integrates rover and orbital data relevant to environmental habitability and life detection, and (2) provides a standard metric, or "score" to evaluate (a) the potential habitability, and (b) the strength of evidence for life at all locales along the rover's traverse. Designed and tested during the 2005 field campaign, first results from the DSS indicate that the three selected sites in the Atacama Desert are generally inhospitable. The strength of evidence for life is positively correlated with potential habitability at two of the three sites. Using factor analysis, we find three factors explain 79.9% of the variance in biological observations and five factors explain 96.2% of the variance in potential habitability across all sites. These factors are used to focus a discussion of scoring variable definitions for future robotic missions in the Atacama and of instrument selection and strategy development for future robotic missions on Earth and Mars.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | G04S08 |
| Journal | Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences |
| Volume | 112 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 28 2007 |
| Externally published | Yes |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Soil Science
- Forestry
- Water Science and Technology
- Palaeontology
- Atmospheric Science
- Aquatic Science
- Ecology
Cite this
Life in the Atacama : A scoring system for habitability and the robotic exploration for life. / Hock, Andrew N.; Cabrol, Nathalie A.; Dohm, James M.; Piatek, Jennifer; Warren-Rhodes, Kim; Weinstein, Shmuel; Wettergreen, David S.; Grin, Edmond A.; Moersch, Jeffrey; Cockell, Charles S.; Coppin, Peter; Ernst, Lauren; Fisher, Gregory; Hardgrove, Craig; Marinangeli, Lucia; Minkley, Edwin; Ori, Gian Gabriele; Waggoner, Alan; Wyatt, Mike; Smith, Trey; Thompson, David; Wagner, Michael; Jonak, Dominic; Stubbs, Kristen; Thomas, Geb; Pudenz, Erin; Glasgow, Justin.
In: Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, Vol. 112, No. 4, G04S08, 28.12.2007.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Life in the Atacama
T2 - A scoring system for habitability and the robotic exploration for life
AU - Hock, Andrew N.
AU - Cabrol, Nathalie A.
AU - Dohm, James M.
AU - Piatek, Jennifer
AU - Warren-Rhodes, Kim
AU - Weinstein, Shmuel
AU - Wettergreen, David S.
AU - Grin, Edmond A.
AU - Moersch, Jeffrey
AU - Cockell, Charles S.
AU - Coppin, Peter
AU - Ernst, Lauren
AU - Fisher, Gregory
AU - Hardgrove, Craig
AU - Marinangeli, Lucia
AU - Minkley, Edwin
AU - Ori, Gian Gabriele
AU - Waggoner, Alan
AU - Wyatt, Mike
AU - Smith, Trey
AU - Thompson, David
AU - Wagner, Michael
AU - Jonak, Dominic
AU - Stubbs, Kristen
AU - Thomas, Geb
AU - Pudenz, Erin
AU - Glasgow, Justin
PY - 2007/12/28
Y1 - 2007/12/28
N2 - The science goals of the Life in the Atacama (LITA) robotic field experiment are to understand habitat and seek out life in the Atacama Desert, Chile, as an analog to future missions to Mars. To those ends, we present a new data analysis tool, the LITA Data Scoring System (DSS), which (1) integrates rover and orbital data relevant to environmental habitability and life detection, and (2) provides a standard metric, or "score" to evaluate (a) the potential habitability, and (b) the strength of evidence for life at all locales along the rover's traverse. Designed and tested during the 2005 field campaign, first results from the DSS indicate that the three selected sites in the Atacama Desert are generally inhospitable. The strength of evidence for life is positively correlated with potential habitability at two of the three sites. Using factor analysis, we find three factors explain 79.9% of the variance in biological observations and five factors explain 96.2% of the variance in potential habitability across all sites. These factors are used to focus a discussion of scoring variable definitions for future robotic missions in the Atacama and of instrument selection and strategy development for future robotic missions on Earth and Mars.
AB - The science goals of the Life in the Atacama (LITA) robotic field experiment are to understand habitat and seek out life in the Atacama Desert, Chile, as an analog to future missions to Mars. To those ends, we present a new data analysis tool, the LITA Data Scoring System (DSS), which (1) integrates rover and orbital data relevant to environmental habitability and life detection, and (2) provides a standard metric, or "score" to evaluate (a) the potential habitability, and (b) the strength of evidence for life at all locales along the rover's traverse. Designed and tested during the 2005 field campaign, first results from the DSS indicate that the three selected sites in the Atacama Desert are generally inhospitable. The strength of evidence for life is positively correlated with potential habitability at two of the three sites. Using factor analysis, we find three factors explain 79.9% of the variance in biological observations and five factors explain 96.2% of the variance in potential habitability across all sites. These factors are used to focus a discussion of scoring variable definitions for future robotic missions in the Atacama and of instrument selection and strategy development for future robotic missions on Earth and Mars.
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=39849098011&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1029/2006JG000321
DO - 10.1029/2006JG000321
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:39849098011
VL - 112
JO - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
JF - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
SN - 2169-897X
IS - 4
M1 - G04S08
ER -