This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 8152, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, and the Conference Committee listing.

Environmental (ESEM) and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) investigations have resulted in the detection of a large number of complex filaments in a variety of carbonaceous meteorites. Many of the filaments were observed to be clearly embedded the rock matrix of freshly fractured interior surfaces of the meteorites. The high resolution images obtained combined with tilt and rotation of the stage provide 3-dimensional morphological and morphometric data for the filaments. Calibrated Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) and 2-D elemental X-ray maps have provided information on the chemical compositions of the filaments and the minerals of the associated meteorite rock matrix. These observations are used to evaluate diverse hypotheses regarding the possible abiotic or biogenic nature of the filaments found embedded in these meteorites.

Microbiological analysis of several cold-preserved tissue samples from the Siberian baby mammoth known as Lyuba revealed a number of culturable bacterial strains that were grown on anaerobic media at 3 oC. Lactic acid produced by LAB (lactic acid bacteria) group, usually by members of the genera Carnobacterium and Lactosphera, appears to be a wonderful preservative that keeps other bacteria from colonizing a system. Permafrost and lactic acid preserved the body of this one month-old baby mammoth and kept it in exceptionally good condition, resulting in this mammoth being the most complete sample of the species ever recovered. The diversity of novel psychrophilic anaerobic isolates was expressed on morphological, physiological and phylogenetic levels. Here, we discuss the specifics of the isolation of new psychrophilic strains, differentiation from trivial contamination, and preliminary results for characterization of the cultures

In solid hydrocarbons and carbonaceous substances of terrestrial and cosmic origin, abiogenic synthesis of protein amino acids takes place, and their concentrations can be very high. The main mechanisms of their formation are crystallization, thermal synthesis, and radiosynthesis. Amino acid spectra are individual for different genetic types of bitumens, and together with other data they can be successfully used for geo- and astrobioproblematics indication. Their usage in the capacity of biomarkers is challenged due to the convergence of characteristics connected with biomineral homologies.

Manganese oxides, which are widespread and of great practical importance, are formed and transformed by the active role of microorganisms. Manganese aggregates occur as both crystallized varieties and disordered fine-grained phases with significant ore grade and up to 50-60 vol % of X-ray amorphous components. X-ray amorphous nanosizedMn oxides in Fe-Mn nodules from the Pacific Ocean floor were examined from the standpoint of their biogenic origin. SEM examination showed abundant mineralized biofilms on the studied samples. The chemical composition of bacterial mass is as follows (wt %): 28.34 MnO, 17.14 Fe2O3, 7.11 SiO2, 2.41 CaO, 17.90 TiO2, 1.74Na2O,1.73 A12O3,1.30 MgO, 1.25P2O5,1.25 SO3,0.68 CoO, 0.54 CuO, 0.53 NiO, and 0.50 K2O. The chemical composition of fossilized cyanobacterial mats within the interlayer space of nodules is as follows (wt %): 48.35 MnO, 6.23 Fe2O3, 8.76 MgO, 5.05 A12O3, 4.45 SiO2, 3.63 NiO, 2.30 Na2O, 2.19 CuO, 1.31 CaO, and 0.68 K2O is direct evidence for participation of bacteria in Mn oxide formation. This phase consists of mineralized glycocalix consisting of nanosized flakes of todorokite. Native metals (Cu, Fe, and Zn) as inclusions 10-20 μm in size were identified in ferromanganese nodules as well. The formation of native metals can be explained by their crystallization at highly reducing conditions maintained by organic matter.

It is commonly assumed that the origin of life on Earth and perhaps elsewhere in the solar system was preceded by the synthesis and accumulation of organic compounds essential for life as we know it (e.g. amino acids, sugars, purines, pyrimidines, etc.) by non-biological processes. Over the past century, laboratory simulation experiments using a variety of inorganic precursors and energy sources have resulted in the synthesis of some, but not all of the compounds required for life. More importantly, the mechanisms by which these simple organic compounds initially combined to form the more complex structures (proteins, nucleic acids, etc.) upon which all life is based remain elusive. Here we report a summary of the progress to date concerning pathways for the pre-biotic synthesis of organic matter and their significance for the origin of life in the solar system.

Over 500 exoplanets have been discovered so far, some being rocky, terrestrial planets. Advancing instrumentation permits spectroscopic examination of their atmospheres, and remote detection of potential of biogenic gases. Of particular interest are oxygen and methane, although other gases are considered. Short residence time of these gases implies continued renewal. Abiotic sources are considered at levels that could be misinterpreted as a pseudobiosignature. Photodissociation of water molecules, for example, could produce an oxygen pseudo-biosignature, although generally at low levels. However, large-scale water loss events, as are thought to have occurred on Venus and Mars, could produce a substantial pseudo-biosignature.

Desulfuromonas acetoxidans, which is regarded to the oldest microorganisms that exist in the Earth, are uncoloured gram-negative obligatory anaerobic bacteria that have an ability to reduce S⁰ to H₂S. This process supports bacteria with sufficient amount of energy which they need for growth. At the same time high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide are very toxic towards all living organisms. Different metal ions that exist in surrounding environment in small concentrations are essential for microorganisms because they support normal functionality of them. But in high concentrations they have a detrimental influence on cell structure and it functions. Srains of D. acetoxidans bacteria that have high toxic metals resistance can neutralize the toxicity of hydrogen sulfide, which is the final product of dissimilative sulfurreduction, and these metals as the result of their particular binding and forming the insoluble precipitations. Light scattering changes and metals accumulation ability of D. acetoxidans bacterial cells under the influence of CuSO₄, PbNO₃, ZnSO₄ and CdSO₄ have been investigated. The changes of light scattering characteristics of bacterial D. acetoxidans cells on the base of their size distribution and relative content under the influence of investigated metal salts have been observed by the new method of measurement.

The seldom considered ramifications of a sterile Mars are explored. Very much is now known about the environment on Mars. Herein, the individual and collective environmental parameters are examined with particular consideration of those that might be inimical to life as we know it, or as might reasonably be assumed to be so to alien life. It is shown that no single measurement or combination of them precludes the ability of Mars to support even a wide number of terrestrial microbial species, let alone the likely greater tolerance and/or adaptability of possible alien life forms. Some yet unknown factor or combination of factors would have to be responsible for Mars' failure to generate life or to successfully harbor viable forms received from space. Since Mars is so Earth-like, the red planet's sterility could deliver a fatal blow to the growing concept of a cosmic Biologic Imperative, and would raise the daunting prospect that Earth is a unique or a very rare habitat.

It has been seven years since we presented evidence for liquid water on comets and the wet comet theory that comets melt and undergo an irreversible phase change on their rst passage through the inner solar system, and since then there have been three more comet ybys and analysis on returned cometary material. We review the wet comet model and discuss the new data, showing that the model not only has been further vindicated, but explains several more independent observations. Not only do comets show evidence of some melting, they show evidence of complete melting.

The study of life in extreme environments is a critical component of Astrobiology. But many of the so-called "extremophiles" are not readily cultivatable and therefore difficult to study under laboratory conditions. An example of such an extremophile is the snow alga Chlamydomonas cd. nivalis which expresses still unstudied secondary metabolites within its life cycle. In this paper, we present the first time the non-invasive single cell Raman spectroscopy of the life cycle dependent metabolite composition of C. nivalis. These secondary metabolites are likely related to the adaptation of C. nivalis to various stress factors. Normalized carotenoid Raman spectra intensities reveal characteristic ratio differences that allow identification of life cycle stages and putative secondary metabolites.

The cryosphere harbours diverse microbial communities which are contributing to the global carbon budget. Various ice ecosystems like ice covers of freshwater lakes, sea ice and supraglacial areas are highly sensitive to temperate rise due to resulting enhanced availability of liquid water which is the prerequisite for life. To assess the overall importance of these communities we require a non-invasive tool which provides high resolution measurements of photosynthetic pigments such as phycoerythrin. Here we present the preliminary calibration processes for L.I.F.E. (laser induced fluorescence emission).

The Raman Laser Spectrometer (RLS) is one of the Pasteur Payload instruments, within the ESA's Aurora Exploration Programme, ExoMars mission. ExoMars 2018 main Scientific objective is "Searching for evidence of past and present life on Mars". Raman Spectroscopy is used to analyze the vibrational modes of a substance either in the solid, liquid or gas state. It relies on the inelastic scattering (Raman Scattering) of monochromatic light produced by atoms and molecules. The radiation-matter interaction results in the energy of the exciting photons to be shifted up or down. The shift in energy appears as a spectral distribution and therefore provides an unique fingerprint by which the substances can be identified and structurally analyzed. The RLS is being developed by an European Consortium composed by Spanish, French, German and UK partners. It will perform Raman spectroscopy on crushed powdered samples inside the Rover's Analytical Laboratory Drawer. Instrument performances are being evaluated by means of simulation tools and development of an instrument prototype.

The Raman Laser Spectrometer instrument is included in ExoMars program Pasteur payload and it is focused on the Mars samples analytical analysis of the geochemistry content and elemental composition of the observed crushed samples obtained by the Rover. One of the most critical Units of the RLS is the Spectrometer unit (SPU) that performs Raman spectroscopy technique and operates in a very demanding environment (operative temperature: from -40 ºC to 6 ºC) with very restrictive design constraints. It is a very small optical instrument capable to cope with 0.09 nm/pixel of resolution. The selected solution is based on a single transmisive holographic grating. At this stage of the project SPU Team is preparing the Conceptual Design Review that will take place at the end of October 2011.

The Raman Laser Spectrometer (RLS) is one of the Pasteur Payload instruments, within the ESA's Aurora Exploration Programme, ExoMars mission. The RLS Instrument will perform Raman spectroscopy on crushed powdered samples deposited on a small container after crushing the cores obtained by the Rover's drill system. In response to ESA requirements for delta-PDR to be held in mid 2012, an instrument BB programme has been developed, by RLS Assembly Integration and Verification (AIV) Team to achieve the Technology Readiness level 5 (TRL5), during last 2010 and whole 2011. Currently RLS instrument is being developed pending its CoDR (Conceptual Design Revision) with ESA, in October 2011. It is planned to have a fully operative breadboard, conformed from different unit and sub-units breadboards that would demonstrate the end-to-end performance of the flight representative units by 2011 Q4.

Archaea were separated from Eubacteria after discovery of their specifics in cell outer membrane that usually not affected by common antibiotics. Phylogenetic analysis introduced by Karl Wöese supported this separation. Presently, only two phyla Crenarchaeota and Euryarchaeota include the valid representatives. Another three phyla that were proposed based on the sequence analysis of environmental samples, do not contain validly published species, and for this reason they are not included in this review. The phylum Euryarchaeota currently includes eight classes and ten orders, while the Crenarchaeota phylum contains the only class with five orders. Members of the phyla Crenarchaeota have two or three family B and no family D DNA polymerases, but members of the Euryarchaeota contain the only family B polymerases and the only family D polymerases, and it is still not clear, which is the main functional enzyme in the replication process. In this article, we are present an update and comparative analysis for this domain, discussing unique features of this group and Evolution, estimating their physiology within the matrix of physic-chemical factors, and outlining future perspectives in their study. Rules of the diagonal for the diagrams with all Archaea are presented and discussed.

Many cultivated archaea are extremophiles and, as such, various archaea inhabit some of the most inhospitable niches on the planet in terms of temperature, pH, salinity and anaerobiosis. Different archaeal species have been shown to produce a number of unusual and sometimes unique surface structures. The best studied of these are flagella which are fundamentally different from bacterial flagella and instead bear numerous similarities to bacterial type IV pili in their structure and likely assembly. The major structural proteins, flagellins, are made as preproteins with type IV pilin-like signal peptides processed by a specific signal peptidase. In addition, the flagellins are glycoproteins with attached N-linked glycans. Both of these posttranslational modifications have been studied in the anaerobic archaeon, Methanococcus maripaludis, an organism which also possesses other surface appendages, an unusual version of type IV pili, whose major constituents are also glycoproteins. Analysis of mutants unable to make either or both of flagella and pili demonstrated that both are essential for attachment to surfaces. A number of mutants defective in the assembly and biosynthesis of the tetrasaccharide N-linked to the flagellins have been isolated. Investigations of these mutants by electron microscopy, mass spectrometry and motility assays have demonstrated that flagellins possessing no attached glycan or a glycan truncated to a single sugar cannot assemble flagella on their surface. Mutants which can attach a glycan of 2 or 3 sugars to flagellins assemble flagella but they are impaired in their swimming compared with wildtype cells which attach the tetrasaccharide to their flagellins.

Most organisms dwell in what we consider to be "normal" environments, while others, which are called extremophiles, may thrive in harsher conditions. These living organisms are mainly of unicellular (both prokaryotes and, to a lesser extent, there are some eukaryotes) But the extremophiles also include multicellular organisms, including worms, insects and crustaceans. In the present work we survey specific extremophiles in some detail. Astrobiology is concerned with all of these extremophiles, as they may be models for extant life in similar environments elsewhere in the universe. In the more restricted search for life through exploration of the Solar System, the main focus is on the preparation of suites of experiments that may attempt to discover the habitability of planets and their satellites. In this context we ask ourselves: What biosignatures can facilitate life detection, both unicellular and multicellular, in extreme environments? The environments that are within reach of present and future space missions include the Jupiter satellite Europa. The icecovered lakes of Antarctica's McMurdo Dry Valleys have long been of interest to astrobiology. These environments harbor unique microbial ecosystems that could orient us how to plan our experiments on Europa.

The Rubisco protein-enzyme is arguably the most abundance protein on Earth. The biology dogma of transcription and translation necessitates the study of the Rubisco genes and Rubisco-like genes in various species. Stronger correlation of fractal dimension of the atomic number fluctuation along a DNA sequence with Shannon entropy has been observed in the studied Rubisco-like gene sequences, suggesting a more diverse evolutionary pressure and constraints in the Rubisco sequences. The strategy of using metal for structural stabilization appears to be an ancient mechanism, with data from the porphobilinogen deaminase gene in Capsaspora owczarzaki and Monosiga brevicollis. Using the chi-square distance probability, our analysis supports the conjecture that the more ancient Rubisco-like sequence in Microcystis aeruginosa would have experienced very different evolutionary pressure and bio-chemical constraint as compared to Bordetella bronchiseptica, the two microbes occupying either end of the correlation graph. Our exploratory study would indicate that high fractal dimension Rubisco sequence would support high carbon dioxide rate via the Michaelis- Menten coefficient; with implication for the control of the whooping cough pathogen Bordetella bronchiseptica, a microbe containing a high fractal dimension Rubisco-like sequence (2.07). Using the internal comparison of chi-square distance probability for 16S rRNA (~ E-22) versus radiation repair Rec-A gene (~ E-05) in high GC content Deinococcus radiodurans, our analysis supports the conjecture that high GC content microbes containing Rubisco-like sequence are likely to include an extra-terrestrial origin, relative to Deinococcus radiodurans. Similar photosynthesis process that could utilize host star radiation would not compete with radiation resistant process from the biology dogma perspective in environments such as Mars and exoplanets.

Technologically important extremophiles including oil eating microbes, uranium and rocket fuel perchlorate reduction microbes, electron producing microbes and electrode electrons feeding microbes were compared in terms of their 16S rRNA sequences, a standard targeted sequence in comparative phylogeny studies. Microbes that were reported to have survived a prolonged dormant duration were also studied. Examples included the recently discovered microbe that survives after 34,000 years in a salty environment while feeding off organic compounds from other trapped dead microbes. Shannon entropy of the 16S rRNA nucleotide composition and fractal dimension of the nucleotide sequence in terms of its atomic number fluctuation analyses suggest a selected range for these extremophiles as compared to other microbes; consistent with the experience of relatively mild evolutionary pressure. However, most of the microbes that have been reported to survive in prolonged dormant duration carry sequences with fractal dimension between 1.995 and 2.005 (N = 10 out of 13). Similar results are observed for halophiles, red-shifted chlorophyll and radiation resistant microbes. The results suggest that prolonged dormant duration, in analogous to high salty or radiation environment, would select high fractal 16S rRNA sequences. Path analysis in structural equation modeling supports a causal relation between entropy and fractal dimension for the studied 16S rRNA sequences (N = 7). Candidate choices for high fractal 16S rRNA microbes could offer protection for prolonged spaceflights. BioBrick gene network manipulation could include extremophile 16S rRNA sequences in synthetic biology and shed more light on exobiology and future colonization in shielded spaceflights. Whether the high fractal 16S rRNA sequences contain an asteroidlike extra-terrestrial source could be speculative but interesting.

Microbiological analysis of several cold-preserved tissue samples from the Siberian baby mammoth known as Lyuba revealed a number of culturable bacterial strains that were grown on anaerobic media at 3 oC. Lactic acid produced by LAB (lactic acid bacteria) group, usually by members of the genera Carnobacterium and Lactosphera, appears to be a wonderful preservative that keeps other bacteria from colonizing a system. Permafrost and lactic acid preserved the body of this one month-old baby mammoth and kept it in exceptionally good condition, resulting in this mammoth being the most complete sample of the species ever recovered. The diversity of novel psychrophilic anaerobic isolates was expressed on morphological, physiological and phylogenetic levels. Here, we discuss the specifics of the isolation of new psychrophilic strains, differentiation from trivial contamination, and preliminary results for characterization of the cultures.

The bacterial spore is a formidable container of life, protecting the vital contents from chemical attack, antimicrobial agents, heat damage, UV light degradation, and water dehydration. The exact role of the spore components remains in dispute. Nevertheless, water molecules are important in each of these processes. The physical state of water within the bacterial spore has been investigated since the early 1930's. The water is found two states, free or bound, in two different areas, core and non-core. It is established that free water is accessible to diffuse and exchange with deuterated water and that the diffusible water can access all areas of the spore. The presence of bound water has come under recent scrutiny and has been suggested the water within the core is mobile, rather than bound, based on the analysis of deuterium relaxation rates. Using an alternate method, deuterium quadrupole-echo spectroscopy, we are able to distinguish between mobile and immobile water molecules. In the absence of rapid motion, the deuterium spectrum of D2O is dominated by a broad line, whose line shape is used as a characteristic descriptor of molecular motion. The deuterium spectrum of bacterial spores reveals three distinct features: the broad peak of immobilized water, a narrow line of water in rapid motion, and a signal of intermediate width. This third signal is assigned this peak from partially deuterated proteins with the spore in which N-H groups have undergone exchange with water deuterons to form N-D species. As a result of these observations, the nature of water within the spore requires additional explanation to understand how the spore and its water preserve life.

The idea that credible searches for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (ETI) could be carried out were laid out in detail in the (now classic) paper by Morrison and Cocconi (1959).1 They suggested using the radio band for these searches. Since then radio searches have been carried out by over sixty different groups. No signals from ETIs have been identified. Most searches did not have high sensitivity and it is not surprising that ETI signals were not detected. It is important to note, however, that these efforts were instrumental in developing new technical capabilities and they helped generate wide interest in this field. In this paper I will briefly discuss the more sensitive searches that have been carried out and some of the other searches that are arguably quite innovative or have been influential in some other manner.

Evidence pertaining to the evolutionary history of the ribosome is reviewed and is discussed in the context of the origin of life as we know it on the Earth. The implications for the search for life elsewhere are also discussed. If extraterrestrial life is found that has complex protein synthesis machinery, it will be of interest to determine if it represents a second genesis of life. It is argued that a comparison with the translation machinery of Earth life will be able to resolve the issue. If such extraterrestrial life were concluded to have arisen from the same genesis as Earth life, then examination of the ribosomal RNAs will provide further insight. In particular, it would in many scenarios be possible to determine how recently an organism found on another body such as Mars had been transferred to or from the Earth. Thus, forward contamination could be distinguished from interplanetary transfer.

Recent studies of comets and cometary dust have confirmed the presence of biologically relevant organic molecules along with clay minerals and water ice. It is also now well established by deuterium/hydrogen ratios that the CI1 carbonaceous meteorites contain indigenous extraterrestrial water. The evidence of extensive aqueous alteration of the minerals in these meteorites led to the hypothesis that water-bearing asteroids or comets represent the parent bodies of the CI1 (and perhaps CM2) carbonaceous meteorites. These meteorites have also been shown to possess a diverse array of complex organics and chiral and morphological biomarkers. Stable isotope studies by numerous independent investigators have conclusively established that the complex organics found in these meteorites are both indigenous and extraterrestrial in nature. Although the origin of these organics is still unknown, some researchers have suggested that they originated by unknown abiotic mechanisms and may have played a role in the delivery of chiral biomolecules and the origin of life on Early Earth. In this paper we review these results and investigate the thermal history of comets. We show that permanent as well as transient domains of liquid water can be maintained on a comet under a plausible set of assumptions. With each perihelion passage of a comet volatiles are preferentially released, and during millions of such passages the comet could shed crustal debris that may survive transit through the Earth's atmosphere as a carbonaceous meteorite. We review the current state of knowledge of comets and carbonaceous meteorites. We also present the results of recent studies on the long-term viability of terrestrial ice-microbiota encased in ancient glacial ice and permafrost. We suggest that the conditions which have been observed to prevail on many comets do not preclude either survivability (or even the active metabolism and growth) of many types of eukaryotic and prokaryotic microbial extremophiles-including algae, cyanobacteria, bacteria and archaea. It is argued that the chemical and morphological biomarkers detected on comets and carbonaceous meteorites can be explained by ancient microbial activity without the need to invoke unknown abiotic production mechanisms.

Hydrogravitional-dynamics (HGD) cosmology of Gibson/Schild 1996 predicts that the primordial H-He4 gas of big bang nucleosynthesis became proto-globular-star-cluster clumps of Earth-mass planets at 300 Kyr. The first stars formed from mergers of these 3000 K gas planets. Chemicals C, N, O, Fe etc. created by stars and supernovae then seeded many of the reducing hydrogen gas planets with oxides to give them hot water oceans with metallic iron-nickel cores. Water oceans at critical temperature 647 K then hosted the first organic chemistry and the first life, distributed to the 1080 planets of the cosmological big bang by comets produced by the new (HGD) planet-merger star formation mechanism. The biological big bang scenario occurs between 2 Myr when liquid oceans condensed and 8 Myr when they froze. HGD cosmology explains, very naturally, the Hoyle/Wickramasinghe concept of cometary panspermia by giving a vast, hot, nourishing, cosmological primordial soup for abiogenesis, and the means for transmitting the resulting life forms and their evolving chemical mechanisms widely throughout the universe. A primordial astrophysical basis is provided for astrobiology by HGD cosmology. Concordance ΛCDMHC cosmology is rendered obsolete by the observation of complex life on Earth.

The petroleum hydrocarbons (oil and gas) and kerogen macromolecules are abundant within the extraterrestrial atmospheric particles. These hydrocarbons occur as reservoir of lakes and oceans or in hydrate forms on various planets (Earth, Mars, moons of Saturn and Jupiter), asteroid belts, carbonaceous chondrites, and as solid residue within the planets or moons in the Solar System and beyond. The abundance of PAHs in the outer Solar System may indicate that the genesis of these primitive biomarker hydrocarbons may have formed abiogenically much earlier (> 5Ga) than the formation of our Solar System (~ 5 Ga). However, the origin of petroleum on Earth is overwhelmingly connected to the biogenic organic matter that is related to source rocks (thermal degradation of macromolecular kerogen). This may show a similar genesis of the kerogen macromolecules and petroleum hydrocarbons (oil and gas) within the carbonaceous chondrites (CCs), Mars, and selected moons from Saturn and Jupiter. They may be biologically and genetically related. Recent evidence of the possible presence of source rocks (organic rich black carbonaceous rocks) and associated petroleum system elements within Eberswalde and Holden areas of Mars may indicate similar terrestrial associations. Similarly, studies of Carbonaceous Chondrites using biological, petrological, SEM/EDS, and petroleum geochemical methods may also indicate the presence of source rock macromolecule within the CCs. These studies pointed out two new issues: (1) approximately, the major part of the CCs possibly originated from archaea, bacteria, and primitive algal remains; and (2) three types of temperature events affecting the petroleum generation within these carbonaceous chondrites: (i) lower temperature events (<200oC) in comets and cooler asteroids or planets (examples: Murchison, Tagish Lake, Orgueil); (ii) intermediate temperature events (200 - 300oC) as associated within the deeper section of the comets, asteroids or planets (examples: ALH 840001, and NWA); (iii) high temperature induced zones (>400-500oC) within asteroids or planets or moons (examples: Allende, Vigarano, EET) where organic matter is closely associated with the volcanic or intrusives. The processes of forming oil and gas within Mars and the Moons of other Planets may be connected to both low and high temperature events of kerogen transformation. As such, (a) in the low temperature events, hydrocarbons may be genetically related to petroleum system elements (source, reservoir, seal, and carrier bed systems; (b) in the high temperature events, bitumens and PAHs were derived from the organic remnants (e.g bacterial clusters) which may be connected to volcanic sources possibly associated with a bacterial mat.

We summarize radio and optical SETI programs based at the University of California, Berkeley. The SEVENDIP optical pulse search looks for ns time scale pulses at visible wavelengths. It utilizes an automated 30 inch telescope, three ultra fast photo multiplier tubes and a coincidence detector. The target list includes F, G, K and M stars, globular cluster and galaxies. The ongoing SERENDIP V.v sky survey searches for radio signals at the 300 meter Arecibo Observatory. The currently installed configuration supports 128 million channels over a 200 MHz bandwidth with ~1.6 Hz spectral resolution. Frequency stepping allows the spectrometer to cover the full 300MHz band of the Arecibo L-band receivers. The final configuration will allow data from all 14 receivers in the Arecibo L-band Focal Array to be monitored simultaneously with over 1.8 billion channels. SETI@home uses the desktop computers of volunteers to analyze over 160 TB of data at taken at Arecibo. Over 6 million volunteers have run SETI@home during its 10 year history. The SETI@home sky survey is 10 times more sensitive than SERENDIP V.v but it covers only a 2.5 MHz band, centered on 1420 MHz. SETI@home searches a much wider parameter space, including 14 octaves of signal bandwidth and 15 octaves of pulse period with Doppler drift corrections from -100 Hz/s to +100 Hz/s. SETI@home is being expanded to analyze data collected during observations of Kepler objects of interest in May 2011. The Astropulse project is the first SETI search for μs time scale pulses in the radio spectrum. Because short pulses are dispersed by the interstellar medium, and the amount of dispersion is unknown, Astropulse must search through 30,000 possible dispersions. Substantial computing power is required to conduct this search, so the project uses volunteers and their personal computers to carry out the computation (using distributed computing similar to SETI@home). Keywords: radio instrumentation, FPGA spectrometers, SETI, optical SETI, Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, volunteer computing, radio transients, optical transients.

The Origin-of-Life (OOL) is defined as an information threshold and compared to the Shannon information of the universe. It is shown that the information content of a minimally viable cell must be greater than the capabilities of the universe to calculate with a random search, and must therefore include coherence. Since No-Free-Lunch theorems argue that there are no better algorithms than random searches, we eliminate several alternate theories of OOL that rely on "smart" algorithms, including the anti-entropic "luck" solution. Then high negentropy states can only be achieved by coherent addition of pre-existing negentropy via some low-entropy mechanism. Since most cosmologists believe information is conserved, it is shown that the addition of information corresponds to a flow of information through Fourier space from large to small scales. The requirements on the information "adder" for low temporal entropy, high spatial coherence, rapid coherent addition, and dense Fourier space flow, are shown to be met by comets. We close with a speculation that the fractal dimension of the galactic matter distributed through the cosmos may reveal the details of a dark matter origin in comets.

Molecules in the young Earth's oceans underwent a finite number C of collisions during the time interval which elapsed between Earth's formation and the emergence of life. The finiteness of C sets an upper limit G on the number of constituent molecules which could have been randomly assembled into a genetic molecule from a reservoir of the relevant constituent molecules for use in the first cell. A viable cell requires a certain minimum number of genes in order to be functional: this means that the genetic material must include a minimum number M of the constituent molecules which encode for information. The question we address here is: is it mathematically possible for G to take on values which are at least as large as M? The answer is Yes, provided that we allow for the fact that there is a large amount of flexibility ("non-specificity") in the operation of biological molecules. When this flexibility is allowed for, we find that G can be comparable to M provided that the mass of constituent molecules which were available in the pre-biotic Earth exceeded a certain threshold. Our estimates indicate that a mass on the order of a few tons would satisfy the threshold.

The Raman Laser Spectrometer is scheduled for launch on board the ESA ExoMars mission in 2018. Its purpose is to perform analysis of the Raman signal scattered from crushed core samples retrieved from up to 2m below the Martian surface. In support of this activity an RLS breadboard instrument has been assembled whose focal plane incorporates an inverted mode CCD cooled to between -10°C and -40°C. The thermal, mechanical and detector design of this elegant breadboard instrument focal plane is described, and the system performance is evaluated in terms of the noise characteristics and dynamic range.

On Earth, the ice of the lakes, glaciers, and caves of the cryosphere (from the ancient Greek word cryos, meaning "cold" or "ice") harbors rich, complex biotic communities. Ice cave habitats have been posited for the Mars cryosphere. Ice in such caves would protect microbes from UV, X-rays, and heavy particle radiation and might be accessible during robotic or astronaut missions. Detection of putative biota-rich ice will require in situ detection of biosignatures in cave walls, floor, and ceiling a few centimeters to tens of meters distant from the investigating rover or astronaut. We describe the development of a prototype for a non-destructive, non-contact device that rapidly generates reflectance and fluorescence images and a midline target profile of 960 reflectance and fluorescence spectra. Spectral Profiling and Imaging (SPI) requires no irreplaceable consumables and can be sufficiently miniaturized to be used by a single astronaut or a small robotic explorer. The current laboratory instrument is designated SPI² since it generates data sets for two optical phenomena: reflectance and fluorescence. In final form SPI⁴ will be integrated with an autonomous rover and generate data for four optical phenomena: reflectance, fluorescence, Raman scattering, and circular polarization. SPI⁴ will be useful for the Remote Evaluation of Life in Ice Caves (R.E.L.I.C.) on planetary bodies whose distance from Earth prohibits real-time mission control.