On 18 March 2021, EFG organised the webinar ‘From Earth to Mars: Planetary Geology and Astrobiology’.
Earth and planetary geosciences and astrogeological studies are proving to be of great help if not crucial in facing the challenging and fascinating questions whether or not Earth’s life is unique, and the links between life on Earth and the potential for life on other planets. At present, there are a great variety of astrogeological aspects (e.g. planetary analogs), which connect this discipline with astrobiology, mainly in relation with the characterization of planetary paleo-environments and their habitability conditions. 2021 has been defined as the Year of Mars with three spaceships arriving and focused on the study of the Red Planet.
Vitor Correia, Past President of EFG and Secretary-General of the International Raw Materials Observatory, was the host of the webinar.
Dr Jesús Martínez Frías was the presenter. He is a scientific researcher at the Institute of Geosciences (CSIC-UCM) where he is the head of the Research Group on Meteorites and Planetary Geology. Jesús is also the director of the Geosciences Laboratory of Lanzarote, and the founder and president of the Spanish Network of Planetary Science and Astrobiology and the Geological Society of Spain Planetary Geology Commission. In addition, he is an honorary professor at the Department of Bioengineering and Aerospace Engineering at Carlos III University in Madrid and a scientific collaborator of the Planetary Habitability Laboratory of the University of Puerto Rico in Arecibo. He is a member of the science teams of the Mars missions NASA-MSL (Curiosity), ESA- ExoMars and NASA’s Perseverance.
