Hunting for Life on Icy Worlds: Iceland’s Extreme Environments Reveal Clues

Europa. Enceladus. Titan. These icy ocean worlds may be home to habitable environments beneath their frozen crusts. To understand how life might survive there, NASA astrobiologists travel to Iceland—home to subglacial lakes, geothermal vents, and chemically rich waters that echo conditions on distant moons.

On this expedition, scientists investigate microbial communities, sample unique chemistries, and study the interplay of water, heat, and geology to better understand how habitable environments evolve—and how we might detect life in them.

In this video:
• Why Iceland is a natural laboratory for studying icy ocean worlds
• How scientists sample extreme microbial ecosystems
• What hydrothermal and subglacial environments teach us about Europa and Enceladus
• How field testing informs missions searching for signs of life beyond Earth

Why it matters:
If life exists elsewhere in our solar system, it may be hiding beneath the ice of ocean worlds. Understanding these analog environments helps refine the instruments, mission designs, and scientific strategies that could one day reveal life beyond Earth.