DeepIce: prospects for microbiology at an interdisciplinary science and technology center

P. Buford Price

doi:10.1117/12.375077

30 December 1999 DeepIce: prospects for microbiology at an interdisciplinary science and technology center

P. Buford Price

Proceedings Volume 3755, Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology II; (1999) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.375077
Event: SPIE's International Symposium on Optical Science, Engineering, and Instrumentation, 1999, Denver, CO, United States

Abstract

One of the goals of the DeepIce Science and Technology Center (one of 16 finalists but not one of the 5 selected by NSF) would have been to locate a subglacial lake close to the South Pole and to search for life in lake water and sediment, as well as in ice above the lake. Radar data obtained in December 1998 show evidence for a lake approximately 10 km from the South Pole. We would like to search for microbes in deep ice above the lake, using filtration, cultivation, microscopy and other techniques, and molecular analysis with PCR amplification. To search for living microbes, we would scan thick sections microscopically for micrometer-size motile organisms living in acid-rich liquid veins in polycrystalline ice. Ultimately we would use sterile drilling to recover lake water and sediment in which to search for life.

Citation Download Citation

P. Buford Price "DeepIce: prospects for microbiology at an interdisciplinary science and technology center", Proc. SPIE 3755, Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology II, (30 December 1999); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.375077

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