SpeleoScope – Instrument For Investigating Dense Microbial Mats Lining Convoluted Subterranean Sulfide Springs

“A joint effort between Equinox Interscience Inc., and exobiologist Dr. Penelope Boston, the SpeleoScope Project is designing, building, and testing an instrument for use in caves and other inaccessible environments. The SpeleoScope will provide valuable information about living forms in non-typical environments, generally considered hostile to life, a goal of NASA’s Astrobiology program. The proposed instrument will specifically address the issue of accessing and making measurements in these aqueous micropassages in Earth caves with the goal of later modifying the instrument for non-aqueous Earth micropassages and for Mars.”