Output details
12 - Aeronautical, Mechanical, Chemical and Manufacturing Engineering
University of Cambridge
A biomass-based model to estimate the plausibility of exoplanet biosignature gases
The methods described have already been applied to predicting whether we can detect life on hydrogen-rich super-Earths, planets like none in our Solar System, which is in press (doi:10.1088/0004-637X/776/1/1, pre-print at http://arxiv.org/abs/1309.6016). This highly interdiscplinary collaboration between astronomy, atmospheric photochemistry, chemical thermodynamics and microbiology is now being expanded in a collaboration between JPL (CA, USA - Renyu Hu), MIT (MA, USA - Sara Seager) and Cambridge (contacts available on request). The paper received a full page of news coverage in New Scientist on 12th October 2013 [New Scientist 12th Oct 2013 p14 - http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22029382.800-how-to-sniff-aliens-gas-in-exoplanet-atmospheres.html ], illustrating its wider impact.
