Darwin -— an experimental astronomy mission to search for extrasolar planets (2009)
Cockell, Charles S., Herbst, Tom, Léger, Alain, Absil, O., Beichman, Charles, Benz, Willy, ...
As a response to ESA call for mission concepts for its Cosmic Vision 2015–2025 plan, we propose a mission called Darwin. Its primary goal is the study of terrestrial extrasolar planets and the...
Darwin---an experimental astronomy mission to search for extrasolar planets (2009)
Cockell, Charles S, Herbst, Tom, Léger, Alain, Absil, Olivier, Beichman, Charles, Benz, Willy, ...
As a response to ESA call for mission concepts for its Cosmic Vision 2015--2025 plan, we propose a mission called Darwin. Its primary goal is the study of terrestrial extrasolar planets and the...
Environmental Ethics and Size (2008)
Ethics & the Environment - Volume 13, Number 1, Spring 2008
Cockell, Charles S., McKay, Christopher P., Warren-Rhodes, Kim, Horneck, Gerda
Experiments were conducted during November 2003 in the dry core of the Atacama Desert, Yungay, Chile to test the hypothesis that UV radiation, in environments where liquid water is not available, and...
Horneck, Gerda, Stöffler, Dieter, Ott, Sieglinde, Hornemann, Ulrich, Cockell, Charles S., Moeller, Ralf, ...
The scenario of lithopanspermia describes the viable transport of microorganisms via meteorites. To test the first step of lithopanspermia, i.e., the impact ejection from a planet, systematic shock...
Lunar Astrobiology: A Review and Suggested Laboratory Equipment (2007)
Gronstal, Aaron, Cockell, Charles S., Perino, Maria Antonietta, Bittner, Tobias, Clacey, Erik, Clark, Olathe, ...
In October of 2005, the European Space Agency (ESA) and Alcatel Alenia Spazio released a “call to academia for innovative concepts and technologies for lunar exploration.” In recent years,...
Cockell, Charles S., Kennerley, Niki, Lindstrom, Maurits, Watson, Jonathan, Ragnarsdottir, Vala, Sturkell, Erik, ...
Understanding the role of microbe-mineral interactions in rock weathering is vital to an understanding of nutrient availability to the biosphere and, in so far as weathering influences carbon dioxide...
Cockell, Charles S., Kennerley, Niki, Lindstrom, Maurits, Watson, Jonathan, Ragnarsdottir, Vala, Sturkell, Erik, ...
Understanding the role of microbe-mineral interactions in rock weathering is vital to an understanding of nutrient availability to the biosphere and, in so far as weathering influences carbon dioxide...
Stoffler, Deiter, Horneck, Gerda, Ott, Sieglinde, Hornemann, Ulrich, Cockell, Charles S., Moeller, Ralf, ...
Bacterial spores (Bacillus subtilis), cyanobacteria (Chroococcidiopsis sp.), and lichen (Xanthoria elegans) embedded in martian analogue rock (gabbro) were exposed to shock pressures between 5 and 50...
Stöffler, Dieter, Horneck, Gerda, Ott, Sieglinde, Hornemann, Ulrich, Cockell, Charles S., Moeller, Ralf, ...
Bacterial spores (Bacillus subtilis), cyanobacteria (Chroococcidiopsis sp.), and lichen (Xanthoria elegans) embedded in martian analogue rock (gabbro) were exposed to shock pressures between 5 and 50...
Planetary parks – formulating a wilderness policy for planetary bodies (2006)
Cockell, Charles S., Horneck, Gerda
Building on an earlier article, establishment of a planetary park system for other planetary bodies is further developed. Reasons are elaborated for such a system to protect representative regions of...
Melody S. Clark, Andrew Clarke, Charles S. Cockell, Peter Convey, ...
With the development of genomic science and its battery of technologies, polar biology stands on the threshold of a revolution, one that will enable the investigation of important questions of...
Re-evaluating the age of the Haughton impact event (2005)
Sherlock, Sarah C., Kelley, Simon P., Parnell, John, Green, Paul, Lee, Pascal, Osinski, Gordon R., ...
We have re-evaluated the published age information for the Haughton impact structure, which was believed to have formed similar to 23 Ma ago during the Miocene age, and report new Ar/Ar laser probe...
Effects of asteroid and comet impacts on habitats for lithophytic organisms - A synthesis (2005)
Cockell, Charles S., Lee, Pascal, Broady, Paul, Lim, Darlene S.S., Osinski, Gordon R., Parnell, John, ...
Asteroid and cornet impacts can have a profound influence on the habitats available for lithophytic microorganisms. Using evidence from the Haughton impact structure, Nunavut, Canadian High Arctic,...
Radiative habitable zones in martian polar environments (2005)
Cordoba-Jabonero, Carmen, Zorzano, Maria-Paz, Selsis, Franck, Patel, Manish, Cockell, Charles S.
The biologically damaging solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation (quantified by the DNA-weighted dose) reaches the martian surface in extremely high levels. Searching for potentially habitable UV-protected...
The evolutionary and ecological benefits of asteroid and comet impacts (2005)
Cockell, Charles S., Bland, Philip A.
Commonly viewed solely as agents of destruction, asteroid and comet impact events can also have a beneficial influence on processes from the molecular to the evolutionary scale. On the heavily...
Protection from UV Radiation in the Economic Crop, Opuntia Spp (2005)
Charles S. Cockell, Joe Berry, Adrian Southern, Alesha Herrera, Charles Yackulic
Edwards, Howell G.M., Villar, Susana E. Jorge, Parnell, John, Cockell, Charles S., Lee, Pascal
The Raman spectra of cyanobacterial species, Gloecapsa and Nostoc, in clear gypsum crystals from the Haughton Crater, Devon Island, Canadian High Arctic, site of a meteorite impact during the Miocene...
Widespread colonization by polar hypoliths (2004)
Cockell, Charles S., Stokes, M. Dale
High-latitude polar deserts are among the most extreme environments on Earth. Here we describe a large and previously unappreciated habitat for photosynthetic life under opaque rocks in the Arctic...
Zones of photosynthetic potential on Mars and the early Earth (2004)
Cockell, Charles S., Raven, John A.
Ultraviolet radiation is more damaging on the surface of Mars than on Earth because of the lack of an ozone shield. We investigated micro-habitats in which UV radiation could be reduced to levels...
Edwards, Howell G.M., Cockell, Charles S., Newton, Emma M., Wynn-Williams, David D.
FT-Raman spectra were obtained for two Antarctic extremophiles, the epilithic lichens Xanthoria elegans and Caloplaca sublobulata from the maritime ecological long-term research site on Leonie...
The Trans-Hellas expedition - An exercise in martian expedition planning (2004)
The Hellas Basis is an impact-formed deep basin in the Southern Hemisphere of Mars. We undertook a planning exercise for a human Trans-Hellas expedition that would traverse the basin from West to...
Clark, Melody S., Clarke, Andrew, Cockell, Charles S., Convey, Peter, Detrich III, H. William, Fraser, Keiron P. P., ...
With the development of genomic science and its battery of technologies, polar biology stands on the threshold of a revolution, one that will enable the investigation of important questions of...
A migratory martian base: using the polar summer, escaping the polar winter (2004)
Placing the first human base on Mars near the poles is attractive because of the easy access to water ice on the surface, the scientific interest in these regions and 24 hr of light during the...
Cockell, Charles S., Córdoba-Jabonero, Carmen
During the spring, when ozone depletion at the polar regions is at its maximum and consequently the environmental UV exposure is potentially high, many terrestrial communities are covered in snow and...
Charles S. Cockell, Carmen Córdoba-Jabonero
During the spring, when ozone depletion at the polar regions is at its maximum and consequently the environmental UV exposure is potentially high, many terrestrial communities are covered in snow and...
Protection from UV radiation in the economic crop, Opuntia Spp. (2004)
Cockell, Charles S., Berry, Joe, Southern, Adrian, Herrera, Alesha, Yackulic, Charles
Medical issues for a human mission to Mars and Martian surface expeditions (2004)
Jones, Jeffrey A., Barratt, Michael, Effenhauser, Rainer, Cockell, Charles S., Lee, Pascal
The medical issues for an exploratory class mission to Mars are myriad and challenging. They include hazards from the space environment, such as space vacuum and radiation; hazards on the planetary...
Melody S. Clark, Andrew Clarke, Charles S. Cockell, Peter Convey, ...
With the development of genomic science and its battery of technologies, polar biology stands on the threshold of a revolution, one that will enable the investigation of important questions of...
Solar UV Irradiation Conditions on the Surface of Mars¶ (2003)
Györgyi Rontó, Attila Bérces, Helmut Lammer, Charles S. Cockell, Manish R. Patel, ...
The UV radiation environment on planetary surfaces and within atmospheres is of importance in a wide range of scientific disciplines. Solar UV radiation is a driving force of chemical and organic...
Cockell, Charles S., Ellery, A. Alex
The establishment of a permanent human scientific presence at the Martian poles requires the identification of a strategy for growth, from localized field parties to a permanent polar infrastructure....
The impact crater as a habitat: effects of impact processing of target materials. (2003)
Cockell, Charles S., Osinski, Gordon R., Lee, Pascal
Impact structures are a rare habitat on Earth. However, where they do occur they can potentially have an important influence on the local ecology. Some of the types of habitat created in the...
Cockell, Charles S., Lim, Darlene S. S., Braham, Stephen, Lee, Pascal, Clancey, Bill
The search for life (or the examination of the reasons for its absence) is one of the most compelling scientific activities on Mars. We describe the study of the microbiology of the Haughton impact...
The Human exploration of the Martian Pole: Part 2 - Support technologies (2003)
Ellery, A. Alex, Cockell, Charles S.
In Part 1 of this paper, we presented a phased approach to the development of a Mars pole human-inhabited research station modelled on those in the terrestrial polar regions. To support this phased...
Solar UV irradiation conditions on the surface of Mars (2003)
Ronto, Gyorgyi, Berces, Attila, Lammer, Helmut, Cockell, Charles S., Molina-Cuberos, Gregorio J., Patel, Manish R., ...
The UV radiation environment on planetary surfaces and within atmospheres is of importance in a wide range of scientific disciplines. Solar UV radiation is a driving force of chemical and organic...
'Radio-agriculture' - ground and space-based determination of agricultural productivity (2002)
As agricultural productivity and the success or failure of crops are influenced by weather conditions and the local availability of water, great benefits could potentially be accrued by an ability to...
Cockell, Charles S., Lee, Marco
Although chemosynthesis and photosynthesis can theoretically supply enough energy for intelligence, for reasons elucidated here, heterotrophy and specifically phagotrophy (ingestion of prey) are...
The biology of impact craters: a review (2002)
Cockell, Charles S., Lee, Pascal
Impact craters contain ecosystems that are often very different from the ecosystems that surround them. On Earth over 150 impact craters have been identified in a wide diversity of biomes. All...
Impact excavation and the search for subsurface life on Mars (2002)
Cockell, Charles S., Barlow, Nadine G.
Because of the ubiquity of subsurface microbial life on Earth, examination of the subsurface of Mars could provide an answer to the question of whether microorganisms exist or ever existed on that...
On the plausibility of a UV transparent biochemistry (2002)
Cockell, Charles S., Airo, Alessandro
Some molecules, particularly aromatics, have high molar extinction coefficients at wavelengths in the damaging ultraviolet radiation region of the spectrum between 200 and 400 nm. Thus, under a UV...
Impact-induced microbial endolithic habitats (2002)
Cockell, Charles S., Lee, Pascal, Osinski, Gordon, Horneck, Gerda, Broady, Paul
Asteroid and comet impacts on Earth are commonly viewed as agents of ecosystem destruction, be it on local or global scales. However, for some microbial communities, impacts may represent an...
Cockell, Charles S., Rettberg, Petra, Horneck, Gerda, Wynn-Williams, David D., Scherer, Kerstin, Gugg-Helminger, Anton
Bacillus subtilis spore biological dosimeters and electronic dosimeters were used to investigate the exposure of terrestrial microbial communities in micro-habitats covered by snow and ice in...
Ultraviolet radiation is an important natural physical influence on organism function and ecosystem interactions. The UV radiation fluxes in extraterrestrial environments are substantially different...
Martian polar expeditions: problems and solutions (2001)
The Martian polar ice caps are regions of substantial scientific interest, being the most dynamic regions of Mars. They are volatile sinks and thus closely linked to Martian climatic conditions....
Cockell, Charles S., Scherer, Kerstin, Horneck, Gerda, Rettberg, Petra, Facius, Rainer, Gugg-Helminger, Anton, ...
During July 2000 we used an electronic personal dosimeter (X-2000) and a biological dosimeter (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt: Biofilm) to characterize the UV radiation exposure of arctic...
Charles S. Cockell, Kerstin Scherer, Gerda Horneck, Petra Rettberg, Rainer Facius, Anton Gugg-Helminger, ...
During July 2000 we used an electronic personal dosimeter (X-2000) and a biological dosimeter (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt: Biofilm) to characterize the UV radiation exposure of arctic...
Cockell, Charles S., Lee, Pascal, Schuerger, Andrew C., Hidalgo, Loretta, Jones, Jeff A., Stokes, M. Dale
The input of nutrients into arctic polar deserts, aided by some physical processes, can result in localized areas of high biological productivity - "micro-oases." We examined the vegetation cover,...
Cockell, Charles S., Horneck, Gerda
In the Archean era (3.8–2.5 Ga ago) the Earth probably lacked a protective ozone column. Using data obtained in the Earth's orbit on the inactivation of Bacillus subtilis spores we quantitatively...
Charles S. Cockell, Gerda Horneck
In the Archean era (3.8–2.5 Ga ago) the Earth probably lacked a protective ozone column. Using data obtained in the Earth's orbit on the inactivation of Bacillus subtilis spores we quantitatively...
Lee, Pascal, Cockell, Charles S., Marinova, Margarita M., McKay, Christopher P., Rice Jr., James W.
Based on morphologic and contextual analogs from Devon Island, Arctic Canada, the recent martian slope flow features reported by Malin and Edgett are reinterpreted as being due not necessarily to...
'Astrobiology' and the ethics of new science (2001)
Astrobiology has recently been feted as a science for the twenty-first century. Founded as a science in the Soviet Union in 1953, its recent manifestation has been accompanied by a large media...
Cockell, Charles S., Scherer, Kerstin, Horneck, Gerda, Rettberg, Petra, Facius, Rainer, Gugg-Helminger, Anton, ...
During July 2000 we used an electronic personal dosimeter (X-2000) and a biological dosimeter (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt: Biofilm) to characterize the UV radiation exposure of arctic...
In: Biodiversity, ecology and evolution of thermophiles in Yellowstone National Park: overview and issues, p. [17]. .Absract of a paper given at a conference on Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution of...
The effects of mutation on the properties of plasminogen and streptokinase. (1994)
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oxford, 1994.
The origin and emergence of life under impact bombardment
Craters formed by asteroids and comets offer a number of possibilities as sites for prebiotic chemistry, and they invite a literal application of Darwin's ‘warm little pond’. Some of these...
Clark, Melody S., Clarke, Andrew, Cockell, Charles S., Convey, Peter, Detrich III, H. William, Fraser, Keiron P. P., ...
With the development of genomic science and its battery of technologies, polar biology stands on the threshold of a revolution, one that will enable the investigation of important questions of...
The evolution of inorganic carbon concentrating mechanisms in photosynthesis
Raven, John A, Cockell, Charles S, De La Rocha, Christina L
Inorganic carbon concentrating mechanisms (CCMs) catalyse the accumulation of CO2 around rubisco in all cyanobacteria, most algae and aquatic plants and in C4 and crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM)...