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conferenceseries.com
Volume 6, Issue 2 (Suppl) J Aeronaut Aerospace Eng
ISSN: 2168-9792 JAAE, an open access journal Satellite 2017
May 11-13, 2017
May 11-13, 2017 Barcelona, Spain
3rd International Conference and Exhibition on
Satellite & Space Missions
Is there life on planets and satellites? Examples from extremophilic candidates on earth
Joseph Seckbach
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Normally life occurs everywhere; however, there are some habitats of life that have very severe environmental conditions that host
microorganisms can tolerate these harsh conditions.The organisms living and thriving in these habitats are termed extremophiles
and polyextremophiles (under more than one category of stress). Among the microbial extremophiles who live in stress conditions are
prokaryotes (archaea, bacteria and cyanobacteria) and eukaryotes (algae protozoa, and micro-animal such as, tardigrades). Among
these harsh conditions are high salt media (halophiles), high and low level of temperatures (thermophiles 45-1220C vs. cryophiles
of -150C and lower, various pH levels (acidophilic vs. alkalophilic members), thermoacidophiles (growing at 45->800C with pH of
below 3), high-deep pressure (barophiles or piezophiles) in deep ocean trenches or deep terrestrial subsurface, anaerobes (without
oxygen), cryptoendoliths (living in microscopic spaces with in rocks, hypoliths (living under rocks in cold deserts), xerophiles (in
extreme dry desiccated conditions as in Atacama desert), metallotolerant (tolerating toxic heavy levels of heavy metals), osmophiles
(growing in environment of high sugar concentration), radio-resistant microorganisms, hyper gravity of tolerant bacteria; lichen
survived adaptation to condition of Mars, and other organisms tolerate space conditions. In our presentation, we will cover only
part of the above factors. While these environments are considered severe habitats from our anthropocentric point of view, the
extremophiles consider their own environments, as a ‘Garden of Eden’ and our ‘normal’ habitat may be lethal for them. We consider
these extremophiles as models or analogues for extra-terrestrial life. We are aware that some Solar System planets and satellites may
contain sub icy layers of large oceans of salty water, which may bear life. The above topic is currently of high interest with the recent
discovery of an exo-solar system Sun with its seven planets. It is believed that among these planets some may bear life as in our planet.
Biography
Joseph Seckbach is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Cellular Origins, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology Seroes. He completed his PhD at University
of Chicago and Post-doctorate at Caltech, and then headed a group at UCLA studying extraterrestrial life possibilities. Later, he was appointed to the Hebrew
University and spent sabbaticals at UCLA and Harvard. During 1997-98, he served at LSU, Baton Rouge, as the first selected Chair for the Louisiana Sea
Grant. He published ~140 scientific articles including Hebrew-language Chemistry Lexicon. His research interest is in “Enigmatic microorganisms, life in extreme
environments and astrobiology”. He has given seminars at numerous universities.
Joseph Seckbach, J Aeronaut Aerospace Eng 2017, 6:2(Suppl)