Lots of excitement bubbling up about the off-world life potentially lurking, swimming, feeding, breeding, having organizational invade-the-Earth meetings deep under the ice-covered oceans of several moons orbiting gas giants… right in our own solar system’s back yard! Sweet. Except for the invasion stuff. So what can Earthly black smokers and other underwater vent environments teach us lowly Terrans about the living systems waiting to be discovered on Europa, Enceladus, etc. etc? So glad you asked. Because I have here a podcast from Dr. Laurie Barge NASA’s team-leading researcher at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, and the Oak Crest Institute of Science. Here the basic scoop, as stolen from NASA’s excellent site that encourages us to ASK AN ASTROBIOLOGIST: “Join us as we welcome Dr. Laurie Barge, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, and the Oak Crest Institute of Science. She studies topics like self-organizing chemical systems, the emergence of life on early Earth, hydrothermal vents and mineral-organic chemistry, and the habitability of other worlds. Dr. Barge recently become the Science Principle Investigator for the InVADER project (In-situ Vent Analysis Divebot for Exobiology Research), and is also deeply invested in outreach and mentoring for women and minorities in STEM fields. Aired October 23, 2019”
