Max looks for Life outside the Earth. His research focuses on identification of minerals that formed as result of, or in the presence of, biological activity and developing instruments that could detect them. He is on the expedition because he is a card carrying ASTROBIOLOGIST and the Mid-Cayman Trough location is the best terrestrial analogue for the deep hydrothermal vents believed to exist (under thick ice at the bottom of a salty ocean) on the moon of Jupiter, Europa. Previous work allowed us to develop the protocols for autonomous search for hydrothermal vents on Europa but now the main target is to understand the possibilities for subsequent detection of Life associated with them. Max’s roles on the expedition are to quantify the whole geochemical carbon budget, define sources of energy for living organisms and the amount of life such energy could support. Part of this work will be done with support from and in collaboration with the Deep Carbon Observatory. He will try to ensure that appropriate mineral and rock samples are recovered as well as subsamples of biological and microbiological specimens, all for subsequent analysis at JPL.
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