Workshop 2026 and Member's Meeting
Dear DAbG members,
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the founding of our society. For this reason, our workshop combined with the members' meeting this year is also intended to be a special event with numerous activities, including an icebreaker on Sunday.
We plan to hold our meeting on the days from
October 11 to 13, 2026
at the Telegrafenberg in Potsdam at the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences.
In order for us to properly estimate the number of participants for further planning, we would be grateful for a prompt short response indicating your interest. The number of participants is limited this time, so early pre-registration is important. Please use the link to the Nuudle survey (GDPR-compliant, without insight into the voting results of other participants) to indicate your interest:
https://nuudel.digitalcourage.de/nRH5ublIs8SfMhAo
Further information such as deadlines, links, and registration formalities will be provided in due course.
As usual, a limited number of travel grants can be awarded to students and early-career researchers for participation in the workshop: https://www.astrobiologie.de/aktivitaeten/reisekostenzuschuesse/
Please send your application to our treasurer Dirk Wagner (dirk.wagner_at_gfz.de). We would be pleased to welcome you to the workshop and the general meeting!
With best regards
Christian Mayer
(on behalf of th board)
Planetary Protection for Sustainable Space Exploration
Royal Society Publishing has recently published an OPEN ACCESS theme issue of
Philosophical Transactions A: Planetary Protection for sustainable space exploration
compiled and edited by Karen Olsson-Francis, Athena Coustenis, Peter Doran,
Petra Rettberg, Niklas Hedman and Jean-Claude Worms and the articles are FREE to access at www.bit.ly/TransA2314
COSPAR 2026
COSPAR 2026 will bring together approximately 3000 scientists and engineers from the all over the world to present the latest results in symposia covering all areas of space science from space life sciences to space exploration and offering also interesting opportunities for students and young scientists to get a general overview about space research and to start networking.
Abstract deadline: 13 February 2026
Early registration deadline: 17 May 2026
For details, see https://cospar2026.org/
🚀 What is HACK-4-SAGES?
A 4-day hybrid hackathon for bachelors and undergraduate students worldwide. The theme is digital twins in astrobiology.
🕰️ When does it take place?
The main hackathon takes place from 10 to 12 March 2026.
A welcome webinar is held on 9 March, and the winners are announced live on 13 March.
💻 Where does it take place?
It takes place online and at our hosting and co-hosting institutions. The full list of in-person locations is available on our website. Students are welcome to participate online.
💫 Important dates
• 23 February: registration deadline
‼️ Mentor call
Each team needs a mentor, so we are also inviting scientific staff members (PhD student level or above) to apply. The mentor form is here.
Possible Protocell-formation
on Saturn's moon Titan
Based on the present knowledge of the atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan, Christian Mayer (DAbG) and Conor Nixon (NASA) propose a mechanism for the formation of cell-like vesicles. Similar to biological cells, these vesicles exhibit a double-layer membrane and are capable of undergoing a Darwinian evolution process. Appropriate detection methods are planned for future research missions to Titan.
The mechanism has been visualized by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
(Video: vesicle formation on Titan)
Original Paper: Mayer/Nixon: International Journal of Astrobiology
Professur
im Fachbereich Chemie und Biochemie
mit Schwerpunkt auf Präbiotischer Chemie
im
Life in the Universe Center
der Universität Genf
Die Deadline für eine Bewerbung ist der 15. März 2026, voraussichtliches Antrittsdatum der Stelle ist im September 2026.
Mehr Informationen unter https://www.unige.ch/sciences/cvu/
We may be looking for Martian life in the wrong place
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-024-02381-x
https://bigthink.com/hard-science/follow-the-salt-a-new-strategy-for-finding-life-on-mars
Payload Proposals for SpinSat Platform
Dear colleagues of Commission F,
I am part of a NASA Ames-led team that is developing the SpinSat platform, a multi-payload spinning satellite that will provide centrifugal gravity in beyond-LEO radiation environments.
We recently released a request for information (RFI) via SAM.gov, aimed to solicit interest and responses from those who might propose science payloads for this platform, as well as those who could develop payload hardware to enable such experiments to fly on SpinSat.
Please see the SpinSat RFI for descriptive details and to be added to the e-mailing list for updates, and please contact julie.k.fletcher_at_nasa.gov (or me) if you have questions. We would welcome a response from you to this RFI!
Sincerely,
Dr. Petra Rettberg
=================================================
