biosignature
Sign in to saveA biosignature is a phenomenon that can be explained by biological processes where all possible abiotic causes of this phenomenon have been eliminated. This term is mainly used in the field of astrobiology in the search for past or present extraterrestrial life, from planets and moons in the Solar System to exoplanets. Candidate biosignatures strongly indicate some of the earliest known life forms, aid studies of the origin of life on Earth as well as the possibility of life on Mars, Venus and elsewhere in the universe.
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51 sectionsContents
- History
- Types
- Viability
- Reliability
- Survivability
- Detectability
- False positives
- False negatives
- Human limitations
- General examples
- Geomicrobiology
- Morphology
- Chemistry
- Atmospheric
- Agnostic biosignatures
- Antibiosignatures
- Polyelectrolytes
- Search for Life
- Search for life in the Solar System
- Mars
- Atmosphere of Mars
- Ozone in the Martian Atmosphere
- Methane in the Martian Atmosphere
- CO and H2 in Martian atmosphere
- Possible Bioorganic Chemistry on Mars
- Mars Missions
- The ''Viking'' missions to Mars
- Mars Science Laboratory
- ExoMars Orbiter
- Mars 2020
- Venus
- Atmosphere of Venus
- Ammonia in the Venusian Atmosphere
- Ozone in the Venusian Atmosphere
- Phosphine in the Venusian Atmosphere
- Morning Star Missions to Venus
- Icy Moons
- Missions
- Europa Clipper
- Dragonfly
- Enceladus
- Meteorites
- Martian Meteorites
- ALH84001
- Search for Life Outside the Solar System
- Exoplanets
- K2-18b
- Telescopes
- Bibliography
- See also
- References
A biosignature is a phenomenon that can be explained by biological processes where all possible abiotic causes of this phenomenon have been eliminated. This term is mainly used in the field of astrobiology in the search for past or present extraterrestrial life, from planets and moons in the Solar System to exoplanets. Candidate biosignatures strongly indicate some of the earliest known life forms, aid studies of the origin of life on Earth as well as the possibility of life on Mars, Venus and elsewhere in the universe.
== History == The term "biosignature" and its definition have evolved over time. In the 1960s, the phrase "life detection" was used as seen in two Nature papers "A physical basis for life detection experiments," by James. E. Lovelock (1965) and "Signs of Life: Criterion-system of exobiology," by Joshua Lederberg (1965). In 1973, Joon H. Rho used the term "biomarker" in his paper, "A search for porphyrin biomarkers in nonesuch shale and extraterrestrial samples" to describe a fossil organic compound that can be traced back to a specific organism. In medicine, biomarker (medicine) has a different definition. In 1995, the term biosignature was first used by the NASA Exobiology Program office (now the NASA Astrobiology Program) in "An Exobiological Strategy for Mars Exploration." The term has since become widely used in astrobiology.