InhaltsangabeForeword; Joseph Seckbach Preface; Hagai Netzer Introduction; Jean-Pierre de Vera List of Authors and Their Addresses Acknowledgements; Jean-Pierre de Vera and Joseph Seckbach Part 1: PARAMETERS FOR HABITABILITY, HABITABLE ZONES AND LIFE: ENERGY, LIQUID SOLVENT, INFORMATION The Habitable Zone: Basic Concepts; Stephen Kane Exoplanets: Criteria for Their Habitability and Possible Biospheres; John Lee Grenfell, Heike Rauer and Philip von Paris The Habitable Zone and The Generalized Greenhouse Effect; Giora Shaviv and Smadar Bressler, Nir J. Shaviv The Influence of UV Radiation on Exoplanets' Habitability; Orion Talmi and Giora Shaviv Factors of Planetary Habitability; Rob Hengeveld Biorelevant microscopic liquid subsurface water in planetary surfaces?; Dirk Möhlmann Part 2: IMPACT CRATERS AND THE EVOLUTION OF LIFE Organic molecules in lunar ice: a window to the early evolution of life on Earth; Dirk Schulze-Makuch Part 3: FIELD STUDIES IN PLANETARY ANALOGS, SIMULATIONS AND SPACE EXPERIMENTS WITH RELEVANCE TO HABITABILITY Experimental simulation of possible origins of life (Conceptual and Practical Issues); Henry Strasdeit and Stefan Fox Simulation and measurement of extraterrestrial conditions for experiments on habitability with respect to Mars; Andreas Lorek and Alexander Koncz The Role of Terrestrial Analogs in the Exploration of The Habitability of Martian Evaporitic Environments; Roberto Barbieri Part 4: SEARCH FOR HABITABLE WORLDS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM AND BEYOND Microbial scale habitability on Mars; Frances Westall Interior and surface dynamics of terrestrial bodies and their implications for the habitability; Lena Noack and Doris Breuer Exoplanets and habitability; Stephen Kane Part 5: ALTERNATIVES TO EARTH-LIKE LIFE Extremophiles on Alien Worlds: What Types of Organismic Adaptations are Feasible on Other Planetary Bodies; Dirk Schulze-Makuch Brown Dwarfs and Black Smokers. The Potential for Photosynthesis using Radiation from Low-Temperature Black Bodies; John A. Raven and Sean Donnelly Part 6: APPLICATION OF EXISTING TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE DETECTION OF HABITABLE PLANETS AND THE SEARCH FOR LIFE Detection of Habitable Planets and The Search for Life; Heike Rauer, Juan Cabrera, Stefanie Gebauer, John Lee Grenfell Raman Spectral Signatures in the Biogeological Record: An Astrobiological Challenge; Howell G. M. Edwards, Ian B. Hutchinson, Richard Ingley Application of Raman Spectroscopy as In Situ Technology for the Search for Life; Ute Böttger and Antje Hermelink  and Jean-Pierre de Vera and Jörg Fritz and Iris Weber and Dirk Schulze-Makuch and Heinz-Wilhelm Hübers Part 7: FUTURE SPACE MISSIONS FOR LIFE DETECTION Habitability on Kepler worlds: Are Moons Relevant?; Julian Chela-Flores Clean InSitu Subsurface Exploration of Icy Environments in the Solar System; B. Dachwald, S. Ulamec and J. Biele Part 8: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Theoretically possible habitable Worlds - but soon will we get answers by observations?; Jean-Pierre de Vera and Joseph Seckbach Subject Index Author Index