Submission deadline: September 15, 2021

Background, Objectives and Impact:

The European Astrobiology Network Association (EANA) in 2021 will celebrate its 20th anniversary during the annual meeting that will be hosted online from Porto, Portugal. In 2021 EANA will organize a number of events to celebrate its first successful 20 years and its aim to develop astrobiology in Europe and promote collaboration among EU astrobiologists. This Special Collection of papers from European astrobiologists showcases EANA and state of the art astrobiology in the EU.

The Special Issue will include perspectives from past and present presidents of EANA, historical description of the European network, reviews, and research papers outlining the latest European research in astrobiology, especially in the context of the new and next astrobiology mission to Mars, and in the perspective of the Mars Sample Return Missions.

Guest Editors:

Barbara Cavalazzi, Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali, Università di Bologna, Via Zamboni 67, 40126 Bologna, Italy

Frances Westall, Centre de Biophysique Moléculaire, CNRS-Orléans, Rue Charles Sadron, 45071 Orleans Cedex 2, France

Lena Noack, Department of Earth Sciences, Freie Universität Berlin, Malteserstr. 74-100, 12249 Berlin, Germany

Ruth-Sophie Taubner, Institute for Chemical Technology of Organic Materials, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Altenbergerstrasse 69, 4040 Linz, Austria

Tetyana Milojevic, Space Biochemistry Group, Department of Biophysical Chemistry, University of Vienna, Althanstr. 14, A-1090 Vienna, Austria

Kai Finster, Department of Microbiology, Section of Microbiology, Aarhus Univeristy, Ny Munkegade 116, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark