Multiple year award & incremental funding for years one of five. This proposal is entitled, "rock-powered life: revealing mechanisms of energy flow from the lithosphere to the biosphere." this is…

This is a multi-year grant award from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center to the University of Colorado at Boulder for a project titled "ROCK-POWERED LIFE: REVEALING MECHANISMS OF ENERGY FLOW FROM THE LITHOSPHERE TO THE BIOSPHERE." The $6,348,218.32 grant will fund an interdisciplinary research team to investigate how low-temperature water-rock interactions can power and shape the habitability of planetary environments and the distribution of life. The project aims to develop a quantitative, process-oriented understanding of the feedbacks between water-rock interaction, habitability, and life activity, with a focus on the production and consumption of hydrogen and abiotic carbon reduction. The research will leverage opportunities at several active serpentinizing natural laboratories and contribute to multiple goals in NASA's Astrobiology Roadmap, including understanding the limits of life, co-evolution of environments and life, and formation of biosignatures. The grant does not have a set-aside designation.

Multiple year award & incremental funding for years one of five. This proposal is entitled, "rock-powered life: revealing mechanisms of energy flow from the lithosphere to the biosphere." this is awarded in response to cooperative agreement notice (can) no. NNH13ZDA017C, NASA astrobiology institute), cycle seven (7). The principal investigator is alexis templeton at colorado university at boulder, colorado. Rocky planets store enormous amounts of chemical energy that, when released through the interaction of rocks with water, can power living systems. Astrobiological investigations commonly use a thermodynamic framework to predict the habitability of planetary environments based upon the disequilibrium between rocks, minerals, aqueous species and gases. Yet this versatile framework does not allow US to predict which habitable niches are occupied and transformed. Thus, there is a need to mechanistically define how, when and where geological systems power biological processes, particularly within the vast but under-defined realm of environmental conditions where rocks and water react at low temperatures. We propose to investigate a compelling question in astrobiology: how do the mechanisms of low temperature water/rock reactions control the distribution, activity, and biochemistry of life in rock-hosted systems." as an integrated, interdisciplinary team, we will make the next leap in developing a quantitative, process-oriented understanding of how water/rock interaction processes shape the habitability of landscapes and dictate when portions of these landscapes are inhabited. We will define pathways facilitating energy transfer between the lithosphere and biosphere, the biochemical adaptions required to harness this energy, and the potential for the resulting chemical, mineralogical, and biological products to be recognizable biosignatures. This team will focus on the production and consumption of H2 and the potential for abiotic carbon reduction in rock-hosted systems. As we develop and test predictive models of biological habitability during water/rock interaction, we will philosophically examine the CO-evolution and boundaries of physiochemical and biological systems. The rock-powered life team will provide the first comprehensive analysis of the feedbacks between water/rock interaction, habitability and life activity during low-temperature serpentinization, a high priority astrobiological target. Our efforts will capitalize upon new opportunities at three actively serpentinizing natural laboratories, the coast range microbial observatory (CROMO), deep peridotite-hosted aquifers in oman, and the atlantis massif on the mid-atlantic ridge, leveraging support from the NAI, international continental scientific drilling program, international ocean discovery program, and the alfred P. Sloan foundation. Our work has relevance to multiple goals in the 2008 NASA astrobiology institute roadmap, contributing to understanding of: molecular, genetic, and biochemical mechanisms that define the limit of life (goal 5), CO-evolution of planetary environments and life (goal 4), formation and interpretation of biosignatures (goal 7), life in analog environments for those on early earth (goal 3). Our cross-institutional team has come together as a proposed NAI hosted by the CU center for astrobiology to promote the scientific and educational mission of the NAI. Development of innovative training programs for early-career astrobiologists will include working with native american tribal colleges to engage underrepresented minorities in the study of astrobiology, expansion of the CU graduate certificate in astrobiology to partner institutions, design of a virtual astrobiology minor to be made available to any interested institution, and development of community and mentoring through saganet. We have aligned significant institutional support for our integrated objectives. Our proposed work will also be complementary to curr