Soil supports life by serving as a living, breathing fabric that connects the atmosphere to the Earth's crust. The study of soil science and pedology, or the study of soil in the natural environment, spans scales, disciplines, and societies worldwide. Soil science continues to grow and evolve as a field given advancements in analytical tools, capabilities, and a growing emphasis on integrating research across disciplines. A pressing need exists to more strongly incorporate the study of soil, and soil scientists, into research networks, initiatives, and collaborations. This review presents three research areas focused on questions of central interest to scientists, students, and government agencies alike: 1) How do the properties of soil influence the selection of habitat and survival by organisms, especially threatened and endangered species struggling in the face of climate change and habitat loss during the Anthropocene? 2) How do we disentangle the heterogeneity of abiotic and biotic processes that transform minerals and release life-supporting nutrients to soil, especially at the nano-to microscale where mineral-water-microbe interactions occur? and 3) How can soil science advance the search for life and habitable environments on Mars and beyond-from distinguishing biosignatures to better utilizing terrestrial analogs on Earth for planetary exploration? This review also highlights the tools, resources, and expertise that soil scientists bring to interdisciplinary teams focused on questions centered belowground, whether the research areas involve conservation organizations, industry, the classroom, or government agencies working to resolve global chal-lenges and sustain a future for all.

The project Lunar Volatiles Mobile Instrumentation-Extended (LUVMI-X) developed an initial system design as well as payload and mobility breadboards for a small, lightweight rover dedicated for in situ exploration of the lunar south pole. One of the proposed payloads is the Volatiles Identification by Laser Analysis instrument (VOILA), which uses laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to analyze the elemental composition of the lunar surface with an emphasis on sampling regolith and the detection of hydrogen for the inference of the presence of water. It is designed to analyze targets in front of the rover at variable focus between 300 mm and 500 mm. The spectrometer covers the wavelength range from 350 nm to 790 nm, which includes the hydrogen line at 656.3 nm as well as spectral lines of most major rock-forming elements. We report here the scientific input that fed into the concept and design of the VOILA instrument configuration for the LUVMI-X rover. Moreover, we present the measurements performed with the breadboard laboratory setup for VOILA at DLR Berlin that focused on verifying the performance of the designed LIBS instrument in particular for the detection and quantification of hydrogen and other major rock forming elements in the context of in situ lunar surface analysis.

Charged particles wafting from Earth might help to keep the Moon hydrated. Charged particles wafting from Earth might help to keep the Moon hydrated.

Will increasing traffic to the Moon contaminate its precious ice? Scientists seek guidance on exploring frozen caches at the lunar poles responsibly. Scientists seek guidance on exploring frozen caches at the lunar poles responsibly.

On the basis of results from exhaustive first-principles simulations, we report a thorough description of the recently identified high pressure phase of the CO2 hydrate, and provide an estimation of the transition pressure from the sI low pressure phase to the C-0 high pressure (HP) phase around 0.6 GPa. The vibrational properties calculated here for the first time might be useful to detect this HP structure in extraterrestrial environments, such as the Jupiter ice moons. Interestingly, we also find that CO2 gas molecules are quasi-free to diffuse along the helical channels of the structure, thus allowing the interchange of volatiles across a solid icy barrier. Taking into account its density and comparing it with other substances, we can estimate the naturally occurring zone of this CO2@H2O HP phase within a giant ice moon such as Ganymede. Other potential planetary implications that all of the found properties of this hydrate might have are also discussed.

The ice shell on Enceladus, an icy moon of Saturn, exhibits strong asymmetry between the northern and southern hemispheres, with all known geysers concentrated over the south pole, even though the expected pattern of tidal forced deformation should be symmetric between the north and south poles. Using an idealized ice-evolution model, we demonstrate that this asymmetry may form spontaneously, without any noticeable a priori asymmetry (such as a giant impact or a monopole structure of geological activity), in contrast to previous studies. Infinitesimal asymmetry in the ice shell thickness due to random perturbations are found to be able to grow indefinitely, ending up significantly thinning the ice shell at one of the poles, thereby allowing fracture formation there. Necessary conditions to trigger this hemispheric symmetry-breaking mechanism are found analytically. A rule of thumb we find is that, for Galilean and Saturnian icy moons, the ice shell can undergo hemispheric symmetry breaking only if the mean shell thickness is around 10 to 30 km.

The extraction and identification of volatile resources that could be utilized by humans including water, oxygen, noble gases, and hydrocarbons on the Moon, Mars, and small planetary bodies will be critical for future long-term human exploration of these objects. Vacuum pyrolysis at elevated temperatures has been shown to be an efficient way to release volatiles trapped inside solid samples. In order to maximize the extraction of volatiles, including oxygen and noble gases from the breakdown of minerals, a pyrolysis temperature of 1400 degrees C or higher is required, which greatly exceeds the maximum temperatures of current state-of-the-art flight pyrolysis instruments. Here we report on the recent optimization and field testing results of a high temperature pyrolysis oven and sample manipulation system coupled to a mass spectrometer instrument called Volatile Analysis by Pyrolysis of Regolith (VAPoR). VAPoR is capable of heating solid samples under vacuum to temperatures above 1300 degrees C and determining the composition of volatiles released as a function of temperature.