Team member of a proposal for a mission to Europa and the Jupiter System for ESA's Cosmic Vision Programme, entitled Laplace. The Laplace proposal has been elaborated and supported by a team of 359 scientists from 15 countries.The list of team members is available at:
In October 2007 ESA Space Science Advisory Committee selected LAPLACE (among 8 solar system missions) to be studied jointly by ESA and its international partners for the next step of competition for an L-class mission that could be launched in 2018 (ESA projects each L-Class mission to cost 650 million Euros, and each M-Class mission to cost 300 million Euros).
NASA and ESA have joined forces to launch a new era in the exploration of the outer solar system. At a meeting in Washington in February 2009, officials from both agencies decided to work together on two ambitious flagship missions. The first, called the Europa Jupiter System Mission will study Jupiter and its four largest moon, and is projected to launch around 2020.
Chela-Flores, J. (1998). A Search for Extraterrestrial
Eukaryotes: Physical and Biochemical Aspects of Exobiology,
Origins Life Evol. Biosphere, 28, 583-596.
Chela-Flores, J. (2001). Search for microorganisms on Europa and Mars in relation with the evolution of intelligent behavior on other worlds. ESA SP 496, pp. 219-222.
Chela-Flores, J. (2002). Can evolutionary convergence be tested on Europa? European Space Agency Special Publication ESA SP 518, 337-340.
Chela-Flores, J. (2003). Testing Evolutionary Convergence on Europa. International Journal of Astrobiology 2, (4): 307-312 (Cambridge University Press).
Chela-Flores, J. (2006). The sulphur dilemma: Are there biosignatures on Europa's icy and patchy surface? International Journal of Astrobiology, 5, Issue 01, January 2006, pp. 17-22 (Cambridge University Press). A pdf file is available.
Chela-Flores, J. (2007) Testing the universality of biology: A review, International Journal of Astrobiology, 6 (3): 241-248. (Cambridge University Press).
Smith, A., Crawford, I. A., Gowen, R. A., Ball, A. J., Barber, S. J., Church, P., Coates, A. J., Gao, Y., Griffiths, A. D., Hagermann, A., Phipps, A., Pike, W. T., Scott, R., Sheridan, S., Sweeting, M., Talboys, D., Tong, V., Wells, N., Biele, J., Chela-Flores, J., Dabrowski, B., Flannagan, J, Grande, M., Grygorczuk, J., Kargl, G., Khavroshkin, O. B., Klingelhoefer, G., Knapmeyer, M., Marczewski, W., McKenna-Lawlor, S., Richter, L., Rothery, D. A., Seweryn, K., Ulamec, S., Wawrzaszek, R., Wieczorek, M. and Wright, I. P. (2008). LunarEX-A proposal to Cosmic Vision, Experimental Astronomy 10.1007/s10686-008-9109-6 (August 21, 2008).
Chela-Flores, J. and Kumar,
N. (2008). Returning to Europa: Can traces
of surficial life be detected? International Journal of
Astrobiology, 7(3), pp. 263-269 (Cambridge University Press).
Blanc, M. et al and LAPLACE Team Members (2009). LAPLACE: a mission to Europa and the Jupiter System for ESA's Cosmic Vision Programme, Experimental Astronomy, Volume 23, Issue 3, pp. 849-892.
Messerotti, M. and Chela-Flores, J. (2009). Solar activity and life. A Review. Acta Geophysica 57 (1), 64-74.
Chela-Flores, J. (2010a). Instrumentation for the search of habitable ecosystems in the future exploration of Europa and Ganymede. International Journal of Astrobiology, in press.
Chela-Flores, J. (2010b). From the Moon to the Moons: Encedalus and Europa. The Search for Life and Reliable Biomarkers, Journal of Cosmology, 2010, Vol 5, in press, January 13.
Gowen,
R. A., Smith, A., Fortes, A.D., Barber, S., Brown, P., Church, P.,
Collinson, G., Coates, A. J., Collins, G., Crawford, I. A., Dehant, V.,
Chela-Flores, J., Griffiths, A. D., Grindrod, P.M., Gurvits, L.I.,
Hagermann, A, Hussmann, H., Jaumann, R., Jones, A.P., Joy. A. Sephton,
, K.H., Karatekin, O., Miljkovic, K., Palomba, E., Pike, W.T.,
Prieto-Ballesteros, O, Raulin, F., Sephton, M. A., Sheridan, M S.,
Sims, M., Storrie-Lombardi, M. C., Ambrosi, R., Fielding, J, Fraser,
G., Gao, Y., Jones, G. H., Kargl, Karl, W. J., Macagnano, A.,
Mukherjee, A., Muller, J.P., Phipps, A., Pullan, D., Richter, L., Sohl,
F., Snape, J., Sykes, J., Wells, N. (2010). Penetrators for in situ
sub-surface investigations of Europa, Advances in Space Research, accepted for publication.
Selection of chapters in books
Horvath, J., Carsey, F., Cutts, J. Jones, J. Johnson, E.. Landry, B., Lane, L., Lynch, G., Chela-Flores, J., Jeng, T-W. and Bradley, A. (1997). Searching for ice and ocean biogenic activity on Europa and Earth. Instruments, Methods and Missions for Investigation of Extraterrestrial Microorganisms, (R.B. Hoover, ed.), Proc. SPIE, 3111, pp. 490-500.
Chela-Flores, J. (1998). Europa: A potential source of parallel evolution for microorganisms. In: Instruments, Methods and Missions for Astrobiology. The International Society for Optical Engineering, Bellingham, Washington USA. (R.B.Hoover, ed.), Proc. SPIE, 3441, pp. 55-66.
Chela-Flores, J. (1999). Search for the Ascent of Microbial Life Towards Intelligence in the Outer Solar System, Roberto Colombo, Giulio Giorello and Elio Sindoni, eds., Edizioni New Press, Como, pp. 143-157.
Chela-Flores, J. (2000a). Testing the Drake Equation in the solar system, in A New Era in Astronomy, Lemarchand G.A. and Meech K. eds., ASP Conference Series, San Francisco, 213, 402-410.
Chela-Flores, J. (2000b). Terrestrial Microbes as Candidates for Survival on Mars and Europa. Invited chapter published in: "Journey to Diverse Microbial Worlds: Adaptation to Exotic Environments" , ed. Joseph Seckbach; a volume which is part of the book series on Cellular Origin and Life in Extreme Habitats. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Chapter 27, pp. 387-398.
Bhattacherjee, A. B. and Chela-Flores, J. (2004). Search for bacterial waste as a possible signature of life on Europa, in Life, in Seckbach, J., Chela-Flores, J., Owen, T. and Raulin, F., (eds.), in "Life in the Universe", Cellular Origin and Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, 7, Springer:Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp. 257-260.
Seckbach, J. and Chela-Flores, J. (2007). Extremophiles and Chemotrophs as Contributors to Astrobiological Signatures on Europa: A Review of Biomarkers of Sulfate-Reducers and Other Microorganisms, in "Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology X", edited by Richard B. Hoover, Gilbert V. Levin, Alexei Y. Rozanov, Paul C. W. Davies Proc. of SPIE Vol. 6694, 66940W.
Chela-Flores, J. (2008). Fitness of the cosmos for the origin and evolution of life: from biochemical fine-tuning to the Anthropic Principle, in "Fitness of the cosmos for life: Biochemistry and fine-tuning", John D. Barrow, Simon Conway Morris, Stephen J. Freeland and Charles L. Harper, eds. Cambridge University Press, pp.151-166.
Tewari, V. C. and Chela Flores, J. (2009). Possibe Role of Sulfur on the Early Diversification of Life on Earth: Astrobiological Implications. In: Economic Mineralisation (Editor K.L. Srivastava) , Scientific Publishers (India), Jodhpur, pp. 53-56.
Chela-Flores, J. (1996). Habitability of Europa: possible degree of evolution
of Europan biota. Europa Ocean Conference at San Juan Capistrano
Research Institute. San Juan Capistrano, California,USA. 12-14
November, pp. 21-21a.
Chela-Flores, J., P. Del Negro, S. Predonzani, S. Fonda Umani and C. P. McKay (2005). Instrumentation for the detection of biosignatures on Europa. . European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2005 (EGU05), Session GI3: Space Instrumentation. Vienna, Austria, 24 - 29 April 2005. Geophysical Research Abstracts. Vol. 7, 03984, 2005, SRef-ID: 1607-7962/gra/EGUO5-A-03984, European Geosciences Union 2005.
Chela-Flores, J. (2007). Life habitability in the solar system: testing the universality of biology on Europa with microprobes or landers. Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 9, 03863, 2007, SRef-ID: 1607-7962/gra/EGU2007-A-03863, © European Geosciences Union 2007. Austria Center Vienna, Lecture room Lecture Room 75, Thursday, 19 April 2007, 13:45.
Blanc, M., The LAPLACE Consortium (2) (2008) LAPLACE: a mission to Europa and the Jupiter System for ESA's Cosmic Vision Programme Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 10, EGU2008-A-00000, 2008, EGU General Assembly 2008.
Chela-Flores, J., Kumar, N., Seckbach, J., Tewari, V. C. (2008) Distinguishing between signatures of past life and nonlife, Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 10, EGU2008-A-01158, 2008 EGU General Assembly 2008.
Jerse, G., Messerotti, M., Gregorio, A., Chela-Flores, J. (2008) A Tentative Estimate of Space Paleoclimate Relevant to the Geospace in an Astrobiological Framework. Committee on Space Research, 37th COSPAR Scientific Assembly,
Seckbach, J. Oren, A. Chela-Flores, J. (2008) The extreme environments and their microbes as models for extraterrestrial life. (Abstract EPSC2008-A-00576), 3rd European Planetary Science Congress. The Institute for Planetology of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany, 21 - 26 September.
Chela-Flores, J. , Bhattacherjee, A. B., Dudeja, S., Kumar, N. and Seckbach, J. (2009) Can the biogenicity of Europa's surfical sulfur be tested simultaneously with penetrators and ion traps? Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 11, EGU2009-0, 2009, EGU General Assembly 2009. The Austria Centre, Vienna, 22 April.
Chela-Flores, J. (2009). L'origine della vita nell'universo, Darwin e la Scienza Moderna, UNESCO Office, Palazzo Zorzi,Venice 29 April 15:00 - 18:00.
Chela-Flores, J. (2010a). El Tercer CapÍtulo del Libro de la Vida: La distribución de la vida en el Sistema Solar.
Reunión con los directores docentes de colegios en Colombia con el fin
de presentar el asocio del instituto IAC con el NAI. Viernes, 3
de Diciembre 2010. Resumen.
Chela-Flores, J. (2010b). El láser en la lectura del libro de la vida: Eventuales beneficios biomédicos. Primera Escuela Internacional de Aplicaciones biomédicas del Láser. IVIC, Merida. Martes, 7 Diciembre 2010. Resumen.