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Biological, Physical and Technical Basics of Cell Engineering pp 457–481Cite as

The Search for Signatures of Life and Habitability on Planets and Moons of Our Solar System

Abstract

In the endeavor to search for signs of extraterrestrial life within the Solar System our neighbor planet Mars and the moons Europa and Enceladus of the outer planets are the most promising candidates. For this purpose, the German Aerospace Center DLR is developing the following devices for in situ exploration: VaMEx (Valles Marineris Explorer), a network of small rovers and walking/crawling and flying robots, to explore the deep canyon of Mars; and the ice-moles EurEx (Europa Explorer) and EnEx (Enceladus Explorer) for the exploration of the subglacial oceans of Europa and Enceladus. The realization of those projects (e.g., VaMEx mission by 2035, and EurEx mission not before 2050) requires their involvement in a global exploration program, comparable to the program of the Global Exploration Roadmap, which has been developed by 14 space agencies with the final goal of bringing human explorers to Mars.

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Fig. 1

Credit NASA

Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Credit DFKI/VaMEx-Team

Fig. 6

Courtesy OHB System AG, 2017

Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Credit FH Aachen/EnEx-Team

Fig. 10

Credit DFKI

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. German Aerospace Center DLR, Space Administration, Navigation, Bonn, Germany

    Oliver Funke

  2. German Aerospace Center DLR, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Cologne, Germany

    Gerda Horneck

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  1. Oliver Funke
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  2. Gerda Horneck
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Correspondence to Oliver Funke .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Neurophysiology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

    Prof. Dr. Gerhard M. Artmann

  2. Institute for Bioengineering, Medical and Molecular Biology, University of Applied Sciences, Aachen, Campus Jülich, Germany

    Prof. Dr. Aysegül Artmann

  3. Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Kazakhstan National Academy of Natural Sciences, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan

    Prof. Dr. Azhar A. Zhubanova

  4. Institute for Bioengineering, Cell- and Microbiology, University of Applied Sciences, Aachen, Campus Jülich, Germany

    Dr. Ilya Digel

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Funke, O., Horneck, G. (2018). The Search for Signatures of Life and Habitability on Planets and Moons of Our Solar System. In: Artmann, G., Artmann, A., Zhubanova, A., Digel, I. (eds) Biological, Physical and Technical Basics of Cell Engineering. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7904-7_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7904-7_20

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