NASA Postdoctoral Program - Astrobiology of Ocean Worlds

The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers unique research opportunities to highly-talented scientists to engage in ongoing NASA research projects at a NASA Center, NASA Headquarters, or at a NASA-affiliated research institute. These one- to three-year fellowships are competitive and are designed to advance NASA's missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems, and astrobiology. This specific opportunity addresses gaps in understanding biological and biosignature potential in Ocean Worlds such as Enceladus and Europa. The proposed work leverages Ames' historical strengths in characterizing organism/environment interactions in planetary analog environments at scales ranging from cellular to ecosystem to planetary. Activities include characterizing the influence of environmental factors on biological and biosignature potential at a physiological level, collecting and analyzing data from planetary analog environments, and developing metabolic and physiological models that allow to constrain rates of metabolisms, metabolic energy production, growth rates, and biosignature production rates. Empirical and numerical data will be used test specific hypotheses regarding the biotic and abiotic factors that might promote or limit life on Ocean Worlds, to aid in prioritizing targets and help define measurement and instrument requirements for future life detection missions.