The astrobiological significance of certain environment types on Mars strongly depends on the temperature, duration, and chemistry of liquid water that was present there in the past. Recent works have focused on the identification of signs of ancient water on Mars, as it is more difficult to estimate the above-mentioned parameters. In this paper, two important factors are reviewed, the duration and the volume of water at different environment types on past and present Mars. Using currently available information, we can only roughly estimate these values, but as environment types show characteristic differences in this respect, it is worth comparing them and the result may have importance for research in astrobiology. Impact-induced and geothermal hydrothermal systems, lakes, and valley networks were in existence on Mars over the course of from 10² to 10⁶ years, although they would have experienced substantially different temperature regimes. Ancient oceans, as well as water in outflow channels and gullies, and at the microscopic scale as interfacial water layers, would have had inherently different times of duration and overall volume: oceans may have endured from 10⁴ to 10⁶ years, while interfacial water would have had the smallest volume and residence time of liquid phase on Mars. Martian wet environments with longer residence times of liquid water are believed to have existed for that amount of time necessary for life to develop on Earth between the Late Heavy Bombardment and the age of the earliest fossil record. The results of this review show the necessity for more detailed analysis of conditions within geothermal heat-induced systems to reconstruct the conditions during weathering and mineral alteration, as well as to search for signs of reoccurring wet periods in ancient crater lakes. Key Words: Mars—Water—Life. Astrobiology 12, 586–600.

Here we describe the novel, multi-point Comet Interceptor mission. It is dedicated to the exploration of a little-processed long-period comet, possibly entering the inner Solar System for the first time, or to encounter an interstellar object originating at another star. The objectives of the mission are to address the following questions: What are the surface composition, shape, morphology, and structure of the target object? What is the composition of the gas and dust in the coma, its connection to the nucleus, and the nature of its interaction with the solar wind? The mission was proposed to the European Space Agency in 2018, and formally adopted by the agency in June 2022, for launch in 2029 together with the Ariel mission. Comet Interceptor will take advantage of the opportunity presented by ESA’s F-Class call for fast, flexible, low-cost missions to which it was proposed. The call required a launch to a halo orbit around the Sun-Earth L2 point. The mission can take advantage of this placement to wait for the discovery of a suitable comet reachable with its minimum $\varDelta $Δ V capability of $600\text{ ms}^{-1}$600 ms − 1 . Comet Interceptor will be unique in encountering and studying, at a nominal closest approach distance of 1000 km, a comet that represents a near-pristine sample of material from the formation of the Solar System. It will also add a capability that no previous cometary mission has had, which is to deploy two sub-probes – B1, provided by the Japanese space agency, JAXA, and B2 – that will follow different trajectories through the coma. While the main probe passes at a nominal 1000 km distance, probes B1 and B2 will follow different chords through the coma at distances of 850 km and 400 km, respectively. The result will be unique, simultaneous, spatially resolved information of the 3-dimensional properties of the target comet and its interaction with the space environment. We present the mission’s science background leading to these objectives, as well as an overview of the scientific instruments, mission design, and schedule.

Tests on cyanobacteria communities embedded in cryptobiotic crusts collected in hot and cold deserts on Earth were performed under Mars-like conditions. The simulations were realized as a survey, to find the best samples for future research. During the tests organisms have to resist Mars-like conditions such as atmospheric composition, pressure, variable humidity (saturated and dry conditions) and partly strong UV irradiation. Organisms were tested within their original habitat inside the crust. Nearly half of the cryptobiotic samples from various sites showed survival of a substantial part of their coexisting organisms. The survival in general depended more on the nature of the original habitat and type of the sample than on the different conditions they were exposed to. The best survival was observed in samples from United Arab Emirates (Jebel Ali, 25 km SW of Dubai town) and from Western Australia (near the South edge of Lake Barley), by taxa: Tolypothrix byssoidea, Gloeocapsopsis pleurocapsoides, Nostoc microscopicum, Leptolyngbya or Symploca sp. At both places in salty desert areas members of the Chenopodiaceae family dominated among the higher plants and in the cryptobiotic crust cyanobacterial taxa Tolypothrix was dominant. These organisms were all living in salty locations with dry conditions most of the year. Among them Tolypothrix, Gloeocapsopsis and Symploca sp. were tested in Mars simulation chambers for the first time. The results suggest that extremophiles should be tested with taken into account the context of their original microenvironment, and also the importance to analyse communities of microbes beside single organisms.