18th EANA Conference European Astrobiology Network Association 24-28 September 2018 Freie Universität Berlin, Germany Sponsors: Scientific Organizing Committee (EANA Council): Daniela Billi, Italy Oleg Kotsyurbenko, Russia Alexis Brandeker, Sweden Helmut Lammer, Austria John Brucato, Italy Harry Lehto, Finland Barbara Cavalazzi, Italy Kirsi Lehto, Finland Elias Chatzitheodoridis, Greece Zita Martins, Portugal Charles Cockell, UK Nigel Mason, UK Hervé Cottin, France Ralf Möller, Germany Rosa De la Torre, Spain Christine Moissl-Eichinger, Austria Jean-Pierre De Vera, Germany Lena Noack, Germany René Demets, ESA Karen Olsson-Francis, UK Cristina Dobrota, Romania François Raulin, France Pascale Ehrenfreund, The Netherlands Petra Rettberg, Germany Franco Ferrari, Poland Séverine Robert, Belgium Kai Finster, Denmark Gyorgyi Ronto, Hungary Muriel Gargaud, France Dirk Schulze-Makuch, Germany Beda Hofmann, Switzerland Alan Schwartz, The Netherlands Nils Holm, Sweden Ewa Szuszkiewicz, Poland Jan Jehlicka, Czech Republic Ruth-Sophie Taubner, Austria Jean-Luc Josset, Switzerland Jorge Vago, The Netherlands Kensei Kobayashi, Japan Frances Westall, France Local Organizing Committee: Lena Noack (FU) Lutz Hecht (MfN, FU) Jean-Pierre de Vera (DLR, DAbG) Jacob Heinz (TU) Dirk Schulze-Makuch (TU, DAbG) Dennis Höning (VU Amsterdam) Alessandro Airo (TU) Deborah Maus (TU) Felix Arens (FU) Ralf Möller (DLR) Alexander Balduin Carolin Rabethge (FU) Mickael Baqué (DLR) Heike Rauer (DLR, TU, FU) Doris Breuer (DLR) Christof Sager (FU) Andreas Elsässer (FU) Janosch Schirmack (TU) Georg Feulner (PIK) Dirk Wagner (GFZ, Uni Potsdam, DAbG) Mareike Godolt (DLR, TU) Sebastian Wolf (FU) John Lee Grenfell (DLR) Kai Wünnemann (MfN, FU) Venue: Wifi: Freie Universität Berlin Network: Conference Institut für Geologische Wissenschaften Password: 99xy7ukf Malteserstr. 74-100 12249 Berlin-Lankwitz Building G Emergency contact: Lena Noack, +49 173 914 50 41, [email protected] Campus Lankwitz EANA 2018 Lecture Hall: Building G Level 2, Room 202 EANA 2018 Icebreaker: Building G Foyer Lunch: Campus Mensa Building Q VAAM and DAbG Meeting: Building G Level 2, Room 202 Public Event: Tuesday, 25 September 2018, 19:30-22:00 It is often believed that the highlight and the main focus of an astronaut flight to the ISS is the rocket start. Although this is not off, this does only represent a small fraction of the whole picture. The astronauts needs to get selected first, undergo various kind of trainings and pass numerous amount of exams, tests and simulations to finally stand in spacesuit at the bottom of their rocket. This presentation will address all those background and vital space station tasks and operations, putting them in perspective of the astronaut flight itself until his/her return. Some science experiments will be presented in a very pictured manner opening the floor towards human exploration of the solar system. Technische Universität Berlin, Mathematics, Room HE101, Str. des 17. Juni 136, 10623 Berlin Conference Dinner: Wednesday, 26 September 2018, 19:30-22:30 The conference dinner will take place at the Museum of Natural History Berlin. Museum für Naturkunde Invalidenstraße 43 10115 Berlin Public transport: U-Bahn: Line U6 (U Naturkundemuseum) S-Bahn: Line S1 or S2 (S Nordbahnhof) Letter from the EANA President Frances Westall Dear EANA friends, This year finds our annual EANA meeting in Germany for the second time. Let me remind you that one of our founders of the famous astrobiology “Gang of Four” is Gerda Horneck who spent much of her career working at the DLR in Cologne (the other members of the Gang of Four are André Brack and François Raulin from France, and Beda Hofmann from Switzerland). After the 2009 EANA meeting in Cologne, EANA finds itself in Berlin, thanks to the efforts of Lena Noack and her local organising team. As with Cologne, astrobiology has a special place in Berlin, where planetary sciences is very strong at the DLR-Berlin and Free University Berlin. Indeed, seminal observations of our sister planet Mars were made by Gerhard Neukum and his group at DLR and later FU Berlin from the Mars Express orbiter. Their valuable work is being continued and expanded with studies of other planets in the Solar System, including the icy satellites of Jupiter and Saturn. But it is not just observation that is pursued in Berlin: understanding of the habitability of planets starts, rightly so, with the formation and interior structure and processes of the planets. The DLR is deeply involved in the InSight mission to study the geophysical structure of planet Mars. This is the first, dedicated geophysical mission to another planet and we expect exciting results that will have bearing on the history of Mars and the fate of its habitability. The Institute of Planetary Research of the DLR under the former leadership of Tilman Spohn initiated a very successful broad programme linking planetology, astronomy, biology and geology that became a Helmholtz research alliance on Planetary Habitability, and linked several research institutes in Berlin and Potsdam as well as other German institutes with each other with respect to astrobiology and planetology. I had the privilege of following the project from its birth, seeing the first tentative steps of disparate groups trying to learn the language of the other – and finally succeeding! Berlin is also the home of other aspects of astrobiology science. The Technical University hosts an Astrobiology group looking at extreme conditions of life on Earth. The Natural History Museum houses an important collection of meteorites and the Museum and Free University are well-known for their research on extraterrestrial materials. In Potsdam, just at the border of Berlin, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) are involved in several astrobiology studies. Further afield, investigations into the habitability of exoplanets is supported by the actual head of DLR Institute of Planetary Research, Heike Rauer, who is PI of the ESA PLATO mission and professor at the FU Berlin. With the future exoplanet missions, hopefully we will be able to detect signatures that may suggest possible inhabitants. Many aspects of the field that is now known as astrobiology were pioneered in Germany. It was Kalkowski who in 1908 first described laminated domical structures (observed in the Harz mountains) as stromatolites, although he noted that they were of problematic origin. Wolfgang Krumbein’s group in Oldenburg made ground-breaking studies at the boundary of biology and geology, a discipline now known as geobiology and at the core of the search for extraterrestrial life. Göttingen with its Center for Geobiology is continuing this work, as are many other centers, such as Tübingen and Bremen. With respect to astrobiology and life in space, the DLR in Cologne of course had been at the forefront of research in lower Earth orbit with the group led by Gerda Horneck and her successors. Gerda’s innovative and far-seeing heritage has brought great rewards to the discipline. It was with great pleasure that I learnt about the creation of the Astrobiology Association in Germany (DAbG). So many in the country have been working for so long in astrobiology-related disciplines and participating actively in EANA since its creation in 2001. It is also a great pleasure that the German Astrobiology Association joins this year’s EANA workshop. There will be many other astrobiology-related groups in Germany that I do not yet know and that I hope to have the opportunity of meeting this year at the Berlin meeting. I am particularly happy to come back to Germany because it was in this country that I reached the proverbial turning point in my life that took me from being a simple marine geologist to becoming an exobiologist. As a researcher at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven in the 1980s, I was fortunate to be able to participate in an Ocean Drilling Programme cruise to the South Atlantic. Drilling in 4000-5000 m deep waters in the middling of the roaring forties (yes, I was sick as a dog but reached shore with a beautifully slim figure – having accomplished my tasks!). I took samples of sediments from cores penetrating up to 1000m beneath the seafloor to study the history of the Polar Front and the Circum-Antarctic Current – and found some very strange things, namely fossil bacteria. The rest of the story is history, to be reminisced over a glass of wine in good company… Ending this short foreword to the programme, I would like to thank the many supporters of EANA. We, the European Astrobiology Network Association, are very fortunate to benefit from the financial support that ESA has generously provided us since the beginning. The financial support of ESA provides us will the means of being able to hold our yearly meetings and, especially, to support student and young scientist participation. EANA is a European association but our doors are open to all interested scientists and buona fide astrobiology enthusiasts from all over the world. To this end, Sohan Jeehta over the last few years has made very generous donations to allow students and young scientists from further afield to come to our meetings. Finally, I would like to thank the local organisers and, especially Lena Noack, for their indefatigable efforts to produce a wonderful programme with additional outside support that has enabled funding even more student/young scientist participation, and Karen Olsson-Francis and Jean-Pierre de Vera for introducing a new award, the Gerda Horneck-André Brack presentation award so-named in honour of our first two presidents. This year’s EANA meeting is going to be difficult to beat!! Participants list Nr Last name First name Nr Last name First name 1 Adam Raven 60 Esen Berivan 2 Adeli Solmaz 61 Feige Jenny 3 Airo Alessandro 62 Feketeová Linda 4 Albdeery Kamal 63 Ferrari Franco 5 Alibrandi Armando 64 Feshangsaz Niloofar 6 Anders, Dr.