Research Topics
| Chris P McKaySummaryAffiliation: NASA Ames Research Center Country: USA Publications
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Detail Information
Publications
What is life--and how do we search for it in other worlds?Chris P McKay
NASA Ames Research Center, USA
PLoS Biol 2:E302. 2004
Magnetotactic bacteria on Earth and on MarsChristopher P McKay
Space Science Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California 94035, USA
Astrobiology 3:263-70. 2003..Deposits in ancient lakebeds could contain well-preserved chains of magnetite clearly indicating a biogenic origin...- Temperature lapse rate and methane in Titan's troposphereC P McKay
Space Science Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California 94035, USA
Icarus 129:498-505. 1997..The lapse rate is everywhere stable against dry convection, but is unstable to moist convection. This finding is consistent with a supersaturated atmosphere in which condensation-and hence moist convection-is inhibited... - Past, present, and future life on MarsC P McKay
Space Science Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA
Gravit Space Biol Bull 11:41-50. 1998..In the longer term, it is possible that in the future we might restore a habitable climate on Mars, returning it to the life-bearing state it may have enjoyed early in its history... - Spectra of simulated lightning on Venus, Jupiter, and TitanW J Borucki
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California 94035, USA
Icarus 64:221-32. 1985..In particular, the detection of inert gases such as helium should be possible and the relative abundance of these gases compared to major constituents might be determined... - The ultraviolet environment of Mars: biological implications past, present, and futureC S Cockell
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California 94035 1000, USA
Icarus 146:343-59. 2000..Data are also presented for the effects of hypothetical planetary atmospheric manipulations on the martian UV radiation environment with estimates of the biological consequences of such manipulations... - Organic synthesis in experimental impact shocksC P McKay
Space Science Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA
Science 276:390-2. 1997..No organic molecules were produced in a carbon dioxide-rich mixture, which is at odds with thermodynamic equilibrium approaches to shock chemistry and has implications for the modeling of shock-produced organic molecules on early Earth... - The physics, biology, and environmental ethics of making mars habitableC P McKay
Space Science Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA
Astrobiology 1:89-109. 2001..Ethical issues associated with bringing life to Mars center on the possibility of indigenous martian life and the relative value of a planet with or without a global biosphere... - Solid organic matter in the atmosphere and on the surface of outer Solar System bodiesB N Khare
MS 239-14, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000, USA
Adv Space Res 27:299-307. 2001.... - Episodic ocean-induced CO2 greenhouse on Mars: implications for fluvial valley formationV C Gulick
Space Science Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California 94035, USA
Icarus 130:68-86. 1997..Glacial or periglacial landforms would also be a consequence of such a mechanism... - A model for the evolution of CO2 on MarsR M Haberle
Space Sciences Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California 94035, USA
Icarus 109:102-20. 1994..Our modeling suggests this critical initial amount of CO2 is between 1 and 2 bar, but its true value will depend on all factors affecting the polar heat budget... - The carbon budget in the outer solar nebulaD P Simonelli
Space Science Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California 94035, USA
Icarus 82:1-35. 1989..We conclude that the majority of the carbon in the outer solar nebula was in gaseous CO; 10% to a few tens of percent of the C was in condensed organic materials; and at least a trace amount of carbon was in methane gas... - Antarctic climate cooling and terrestrial ecosystem responsePeter T Doran
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 West Taylor Street, Chicago, Illinois 60607, USA
Nature 415:517-20. 2002..Continental Antarctic cooling, especially the seasonality of cooling, poses challenges to models of climate and ecosystem change... - A preliminary survey of non-lichenized fungi cultured from the hyperarid Atacama Desert of ChileCatharine A Conley
Planetary Sciences Division, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC 20546, USA
Astrobiology 6:521-6. 2006..All fungi identified in this preliminary survey are spore-forming saprobes that are readily dispersed by wind, a likely mechanism that accounts for their presence in the central Atacama Desert... - The photochemical stability of carbonates on MarsRichard Quinn
SETI Institute, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California 94039, USA
Astrobiology 6:581-91. 2006.... - The limitations on organic detection in Mars-like soils by thermal volatilization-gas chromatography-MS and their implications for the Viking resultsRafael Navarro-González
Laboratorio de Quimica de Plasmas y Estudios Planetarios, Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Circuito Exterior, Ciudad Universitaria, P O Box 70 543, 04510 Mexico D F, Mexico
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 103:16089-94. 2006..We suggest that the design of future organic instruments for Mars should include other methods to be able to detect extinct and/or extant life... - Hypolithic community shifts occur as a result of liquid water availability along environmental gradients in China's hot and cold hyperarid desertsStephen B Pointing
School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong SAR, China
Environ Microbiol 9:414-24. 2007.... - Deinococcus peraridilitoris sp. nov., isolated from a coastal desertFred A Rainey
Department of Biological Sciences, 202 Life Sciences Building, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 57:1408-12. 2007..nov. is proposed. The type strain is KR-200(T) (=LMG 22246(T)=CIP 109416(T))... - Cyanobacterial ecology across environmental gradients and spatial scales in China's hot and cold desertsKimberley A Warren-Rhodes
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA
FEMS Microbiol Ecol 61:470-82. 2007..We propose that landscape ecology concepts and models linking desert vegetation, biological feedbacks and ecohydrological processes are applicable to microbial communities... 
Ultraviolet radiation-induced limitation to epilithic microbial growth in arid deserts--dosimetric experiments in the hyperarid core of the Atacama DesertCharles S Cockell
PSSRI, Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK
J Photochem Photobiol B 90:79-87. 2008..These data further show that UV radiation can be an important limiting factor in surface biological rock weathering in arid regions...- Testing the H2O2-H2O hypothesis for life on Mars with the TEGA instrument on the Phoenix landerDirk Schulze-Makuch
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164, USA
Astrobiology 8:205-14. 2008..Our experiments provide a baseline for an unbiased test for chemical versus biological responses, which can be applied at the time the Phoenix lander transmits its first results from the martian surface... - Hypolithic cyanobacteria, dry limit of photosynthesis, and microbial ecology in the hyperarid Atacama DesertKimberley A Warren-Rhodes
NASA Ames Research Center, MS 245 3, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA
Microb Ecol 52:389-98. 2006..If so, such microhabitats would probably be widely dispersed, difficult to detect, and millimeters away from virtually lifeless surroundings... - Endolithic cyanobacteria in halite rocks from the hyperarid core of the Atacama DesertJacek Wierzchos
Servei de Microscopia Electronica, Universitat de Lleida, Lleida, Spain
Astrobiology 6:415-22. 2006..Photosynthetic microorganisms within dry evaporite rocks could be an important and previously unrecognized target for the search for life within our Solar System... - Survival of endospores of Bacillus subtilis on spacecraft surfaces under simulated martian environments: implications for the forward contamination of MarsAndrew C Schuerger
Dynamac Corporation, Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899, USA
Icarus 165:253-76. 2003..Furthermore, these results suggest that the high UV fluence rates on the martian surface can be an important resource in minimizing the forward contamination of Mars... - Key science questions from the second conference on early Mars: geologic, hydrologic, and climatic evolution and the implications for lifeDavid W Beaty
Mars Program Office, Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109 8099, USA
Astrobiology 5:663-89. 2005.... - Near-term lander experiments for growing plants on Mars: requirements for information on chemical and physical properties of Mars regolithAndrew C Schuerger
Dynamac Corporation, Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899, USA
Life Support Biosph Sci 8:137-47. 2002..Soil physical tests useful for plant biology studies in Mars regolith include bulk density, particle size distribution, porosity, water retention, and hydraulic conductivity... - Growth of methanogens on a Mars soil simulantTimothy A Kral
Arkansas Oklahoma Center for Space and Planetary Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville 72701, USA
Orig Life Evol Biosph 34:615-26. 2004..We report here that certain methanogens can grow on a Mars soil simulant when supplied with carbon dioxide, molecular hydrogen, and varying amounts of water... - Temperature and moisture conditions for life in the extreme arid region of the Atacama desert: four years of observations including the El Niño of 1997-1998Christopher P McKay
Space Science Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California 94035, USA
Astrobiology 3:393-406. 2003..The paucity of liquid water under stones is consistent with the apparent absence of hypolithic (under-stone) cyanobacteria, the only known primary producers in such extreme deserts... - Mars-like soils in the Atacama Desert, Chile, and the dry limit of microbial lifeRafael Navarro-González
Laboratorio de Quimica de Plasmas y Estudios Planetarios, Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Circuito Exterior, Ciudad Universitaria, Apartado Postal 70 543, Mexico City, 04510, Mexico
Science 302:1018-21. 2003..Incubation experiments, patterned after the Viking labeled-release experiment but with separate biological and nonbiological isomers, show active decomposition of organic species in these soils by nonbiological processes... - Formation and character of an ancient 19-m ice cover and underlying trapped brine in an "ice-sealed" east Antarctic lakePeter T Doran
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, 845 West Taylor Street, MS 186, Chicago 60607, USA
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 100:26-31. 2003..To our knowledge, Lake Vida has the thickest subaerial lake ice cover recorded and may represent a previously undiscovered end-member lacustrine ecosystem on Earth... - Laboratory studies of butane nucleation on organic haze particles: application to Titan's cloudsDaniel B Curtis
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
J Phys Chem A 109:1382-90. 2005..Requiring a high saturation ratio for butane nucleation will reduce the optical depth of butane clouds by a factor of 100 because the particles will be fewer in number for a given condensed mass... - Haze aerosols in the atmosphere of early Earth: manna from heavenMelissa G Trainer
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0216, USA
Astrobiology 4:409-19. 2004..We also show that as the C/O ratio decreases, the organic particles produced are more oxidized and contain biologically labile compounds. After life arose, the haze may thus have provided food for biota... - Why O2 is required by complex life on habitable planets and the concept of planetary "oxygenation time"David C Catling
Department of Atmospheric Sciences and Astrobiology Program, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
Astrobiology 5:415-38. 2005..Conversely, Earth-like planets orbiting long-lived stars are potentially favorable habitats for complex life... - Description of four novel psychrophilic, ionizing radiation-sensitive Deinococcus species from alpine environmentsRyan P Callegan
Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 7080, USA
Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 58:1252-8. 2008..nov.), ME-04-01-32T (=LMG 24022T=NRRL B-41947T; Deinococcus altitudinis sp. nov.) and ME-04-04-52T (=LMG 24283T=NRRL B-41948T; Deinococcus alpinitundrae sp. nov.) represent the type strains of four novel species of the genus Deinococcus...