To learn more about the Johnson Biosignatures Lab, visit johnsonbiosignatureslab. Webb, or a similar spacecraft in the future, could pick up signs of an atmosphere like our own oxygen, carbon dioxide, methane. “It feels like the deepest mystery about our existence.” The James Webb Space Telescope, launched in 2021, could get the first glimpses: the mix of gases in the atmospheres of Earth-sized exoplanets. “I’m captivated by whether we’re alone against the backdrop of a vast cosmos,” says Johnson. It was the most exciting thing she had ever done. Louis, Missouri, she cautiously accepted an invitation to join a research team headed into the heart of the Mojave Desert to test a prototype rover for Mars. But as a first-year undergraduate student at Washington University in St. Johnson never imagined she would leave her home in Kentucky, where her parents rarely crossed the state line, to become an interplanetary scientist. “I suspect the same will be true no matter where we find life.” That is quite close in cosmic terms, and by happy accident, the orientation of the orbits. “Time and again, as we have learned more about Mars and other destinations in our solar system, we have discovered things we couldn’t possibly have imagined,” says Johnson. The planets orbit a dwarf star named Trappist-1, about 40 light-years, or 235 trillion miles, from Earth. In space, they will seek evidence of things like chemical complexity and energy transfer, using techniques designed to work regardless of underlying biochemistry. Now Johnson is also extending into agnostic work, branching into how to detect “life as we don’t know it.” Her team is developing approaches that do not presuppose molecular frameworks familiar to Earth-bound biologists. NASA planet-hunting mission finds 5,000 possible alien worlds in less than 4 years By Meghan Bartels published 26 January 2022 NASAs TESS exoplanet hunter is truly prolific. She and her team, including undergraduates, have helicoptered into the polar deserts of Antarctica, crawled into deep caves in Idaho, set up camp in the Atacama Desert in Chile, and hiked volcanic territory in Iceland to collect samples and bring them back to her Hilltop lab. Until now, much of Johnson’s research has focused on how best to find indicators of life in extreme Earth environments. However, NASA needs researchers to think outside the box as it prepares to reach into the solar system with missions to the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Johnson, who is also a visiting professor at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, says that great strides have been made toward understanding early rock records and exploring Mars. “We only have one data point: life as we know it,” says Johnson. "So is there life on Mars? Not that we've found yet, but there's still a lot of Mars left to explore.If life exists on other planets, would an Earth-bound scientist even be able to detect it? Georgetown Assistant Professor of Biology Sarah Stewart Johnson is throwing out all assumptions and building new life-detection systems with the help of nearly $7 million from NASA’s astrobiology program. There are places underground that could have fluids in them or organisms could live, and they’d be protected from the radiation that’s so harmful on the surface," Graham explained. "There are places that are potentially habitable, like the deep subsurface. The advantage of a subsurface dwelling would be layers of rock and soil providing protection from harmful solar radiation once delivered by the Red Planet’s magnetic field. Yet, there is a chance that liquid water could still exist beneath the surface of the planet and thus Graham thinks that if life still exists on Mars it would also be beneath the planet's outer layers. This radiation also made the existence of life at the surface of Mars unfeasible. Without an atmosphere, there was nothing to prevent Mars’ water from evaporating and then being lost to space. Mars is believed to have lost its water when it lost its magnetic field around 4 billion years ago. On Earth, our magnetic field stops harmful radiation from stripping away the atmosphere and protects life on the planet’s surface. How stratospheric life is teaching us about the possibility of extreme life on other worlds Incredibly weird microbes found deep underground could change search for life on Mars
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