Prebiotic Chemistry in Exoplanet Environments

Current CSH Project Members:
Dr. Marrick Braam (lead)
Project Start Date: 01 October 2026

The discovery of numerous temperate rocky exoplanets has opened exciting opportunities to study the environments where life might arise and to search for potential biosignatures. Comprehensive simulations that describe the physical and chemical properties of planetary atmospheres are crucial for understanding these environments. In this project, we investigate whether rocky exoplanet environments can support prebiotic chemistry and what these environments imply for interpreting potential biosignatures.

The project connects two frontier areas of exoplanetary science: prebiotic chemistry and climate modelling. State-of-the-art theoretical predictions demonstrate how the atmospheric composition of exoplanets is shaped by a complex interplay of radiation, climate, dynamics, and chemistry, with inherent spatial and temporal variations. On early Earth, the environmental conditions determined the production and surface delivery of important prebiotic precursor molecules such as hydrogen cyanide, which were crucial for the emergence of life. On exoplanets, environmental conditions including stellar radiation and lightning may similarly determine the production and delivery of precursor molecules. Using coupled climate-chemistry models that include these processes (see Figure 1), we aim to understand these environmental conditions and their implications for prebiotic chemistry on exoplanets.

Figure 1: Illustration of the environmental context for the synthesis of prebiotic feedstock molecules in a planetary atmosphere. © Marrick Braam

Since early Earth-like atmospheres may represent a significant part of an exoplanet’s history, understanding these environmental conditions is key to interpreting future observations of rocky exoplanet atmospheres. The simulated environments will help inform the science goals and instrument design of the Large Interferometer For Exoplanets (LIFE), a Swiss-led space mission designed to search for life outside the Solar System and investigate the diversity of other worlds. Overall, the project will contribute to a deeper understanding of the origin and distribution of life in the universe.

The research project will be conducted in collaboration with CSH researchers as well as members of the Exoclimate Theory Group and the LIFE Space Mission Collaboration. This research is supported by the SNSF Ambizione Fellowship grant (grant number 240629), a scheme of the Swiss National Science Foundation.