GENERAL REFLECTIONS ON THE DEFINITION OF ANALOGUES AND CONSEQUENCES FOR THE EURO-CARES PROJECT.

Abstract

Introduction: Most astrobiological investigations have been, are, and will be, focussed on solid materials including rocks, soil, and ices. However, natural mate-rials can be very complex in composition, and the po-tential traces of life and/or molecules of astrobiological interest that they could contain may be very subtle and challenging to detect; hence, the importance of prior preparation for the missions using analogues. Analogues are terrestrial sites or samples having properties more or less similar than those expected on a given extraterrestrial body. There is a huge variety of analogues on Earth that can be used for many purposes: to test spacecraft landing and rover mobility, to test and calibrate instruments and sample preparation systems for in situ missions before launch, to help interpretation of data acquired during missions, and to carry out laboratory experiments. Analogue samples include minerals and rocks, as well as chemical, biological and material samples.