Yorkshire scientist heading for frozen wastes

A SCIENTIST from Yorkshire is travelling to one of the coldest places on Earth to help experts understand how life could exist on other planets in our solar system.

Prof Liane Benning of Leeds University is part of a team travelling to Ny-lesund on the island of Svalbard to investigate how the snow and ice there was first colonised by extremophiles – organisms that thrive in harsh conditions.

Svalbard is located midway between Norway and the North Pole.

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The team will spend two weeks on Svalbard this month as part of the Europlanet Research Infrastructure's transnational access programme. The expedition is part of the larger international project, which uses extreme environments on Earth as a test-bed for technology that will be used on future missions searching for life on Mars.

"Glacial snow and ice is a good analogue for ice and frost-covered ground at the Martian poles or other icy bodies in the solar system, like (Jupiter's moon) Europa," said Prof Benning.

"If we can learn more about how life can form and thrive in these areas, and the survival strategies they adopt, it gives us a better chance of detecting life on other planets with similarly extreme conditions.

"Just like a forensics team investigating a crime scene, we have to make sure we are not detecting any contaminants we might have brought with us."