Terrestrial Analogs 2021 (LPI Contrib. No. 2595) 8104.pdf LADAKH: A MARS ANALOGUE FIELD SITE FOR ASTROBIOLOGY RESEARCH Siddharth Pandey1,2,3*, Michael C. Macey4, Debashree Das1, Anurup Mohanty2,5, Satyam Tiwari2, Jovel Varghese Jose1,2 1Amity University (Bhatan, Panvel, Mumbai, Maharashtra - 410206, India) 2Blue Marble Space Institute of Science (1001 4th Ave, Suite 3201, Seattle, WA 98154, US), 3Mars Society Australia (43 Michell St, Monash ACT 2904, Australia) 4The Open University (Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK) 5SRM Institute of Science and Technology (KTR, Kancheepuram, Chennai - 700055, India) *
[email protected] Abstract: The growing number of missions has desert conditions of Ladakh harbor varied geological brought previously unapproachable and features and features of scientific interest, including incomprehensible regions of the universe into the glacial deposits, hot springs, sand dunes, salt crusts, realm of our understanding. The millennial boosts in permafrost regions, and saline lakes [2]. Each of these technological innovations have enabled us to expand sites are characterized by distinct geological features the horizons of our exploration far beyond our that can help provide answers to fundamental questions immediate neighborhood in the solar system. As is pertaining to habitability (extremophilic microbes inevitable for any scientific discovery of magnitude, to residing in hot springs with temperatures of 70°C to open up questions for further evaluations, recent space those surviving under permafrost conditions where the endeavors have necessitated the search for analogue temperatures never rise above 0°C) and potential sites on Earth that mimic these extraterrestrial sites in biosignatures that could be formed and preserved order to glean insights into physicochemical and under conditions considered analogous to geological processes, potential habitability and environments on Mars.