Australian Centre for Astrobiology

Vials with orange liquid in the lab

A relatively simple mixture of chemicals can produce some of the compounds needed to form RNA, UNSW scientists have shown. 

enceladus

Phosphorus is the most elusive element crucial for life as we know it – and we now have the first evidence there’s some available in the oceans of Enceladus.

Earth as seen from the moon

The planet's evolution and ‘microbial poop’ were just some of the wide ranging topics US mineralogist Dr Robert Hazen covered at the UNSW Centre for Ideas event last night.

Stromatolite rocks in shallow waters

As the Mars Rover sets out to look for evidence of life on another planet, scientists back on Earth suggest viruses played a key role in creating stromatolites, our planet’s earliest lifeforms.

Luke Steller teaching students how to find fossils

As Perseverance prepares to launch for Mars, two UNSW PhD students look back on a field trip that gave Indigenous high school students a behind-the-scenes look at the rover’s upcoming mission.

Dr Anna Wang and Mr Luke Steller in Tikitere

Hot springs may have been the ‘spark’ that helped organic matter turn into life – these UNSW Sydney scientists have put this hypothesis to the test in New Zealand. 

Scientist examining rocks

UNSW scientists have shown a group of Mars specialists the secrets of the remote Pilbara's ancient rocks - all in preparation for NASA's and ESA's Mars 2020 missions.

mars_-_devon_island.jpg

Jonathan Clarke has just returned from another mission to simulate life on Mars, this time from Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic.

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Australia was a significant global space player during the 1950s and 1960s. Now we're one of only two OECD countries not to have a space agency. What happened?

mars.jpg

One of the best ways to find out the challenges of living on Mars is to simulate living on another planet here on Earth, writes Jonathan Clarke.

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