Featured Video Play Icon

More Search for Extraterrestrial Life Videos

Assuming that life on other planets with an ocean may be located around vent sites providing the basic energy for life, we must first locate the vent sites themselves. I will discuss how we do that here on earth and how technology is rapidly evolving to aid in that and how we can utilize this for exploring the ocean on Europa and other exo-planets. I will use the examples of the vent sites I found in the Antarctic and the Caribbean and how advances in the 3 years between the discoveries made the task a lot easier.


Dr Cockell is the Director of the UK Centre for Astrobiology. His lab is interested in life in extreme environments. The particular interest is in the interactions of microbes with minerals and the function and diversity of microbes in rocky environments. The lab applies this work to diverse areas in astrobiology and earth sciences.