Evolution and Tracers of Habitability on Mars and the Earth

Project ET-HOME intends to gain insight into the habitability of early Earth as well as past and present Mars. Habitability refers to an environment’s ability to support life, which does not necessarily mean life exists in this environment: the presence of liquid water is likely a baseline requirement, but other parameters are important determiners of whether a given environment can host life.
The project takes on a pluridisciplinary approach that includes a variety of fields, from geochemistry to digital simulations, in order to understand the role of geological factors (plate tectonics, meteor impacts, volcanic activity) and of chemical signatures linked to biological processes. Current and future space exploration missions will also be used in order to understand how Mars’ habitability has evolved over time, drawing comparisons with early Earth.
Project ET-HOME is coordinated by Vinciane Debaille and conducted by the ‘G-Time’ unit of ULB’s Faculty of Sciences, in partnership with UCL, ULiège, VUB, UGent, the Royal Observatory of Belgium, and the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy.
Dates
Created on August 13, 2018