Prof. Pascale Ehrenfreund

Pascale Ehrenfreund is the President of the International Space University and Research Professor of Space Policy and International Affairs at the Space Policy Institute/George Washington University in Washington DC. She is also the President of the Committee on Space Research COSPAR and Visiting Professor at Leiden Observatory.

Since three decades she contributed as Principal Investigator, Co-Investigator and Teamleader to ESA and NASA astronomy and planetary missions as well as experiments in low Earth orbit and on the International Space Station.

Pascale Ehrenfreund served as the Chair of the Executive Board of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) between 2015-2020 and the President of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) from 2013-2015.

Pascale Ehrenfreund holds a Master degree in Molecular Biology, a PhD in Astrophysics, and a Master degree in Management & Leadership.

The asteroid “9826 Ehrenfreund 2114 T-3” bears her name.

Academic Education

2008 M.A. Management & Leadership
Webster University, Leiden
1999 Habilitation in Astrochemistry
University of Vienna
1990 PhD Astrophysics
University of Vienna and University Paris VII, Groupe de Physique des Solides
1988 M.S. Molecular Biology
University of Vienna and Austrian Academy of Sciences, Salzburg

Professional Experience

2021- President, International Space University, Strasbourg, France
2008- Research Professor, Space Policy & International Affairs,
Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, USA
2006- Professor, Astrobiology, University of Leiden, The Netherlands
2015-2020 Chair of the Executive Board, German Aerospace Center
2013-2015 President, Austrian Science Fund FWF
2008-2017 Lead Investigator, NASA Astrobiology Institute, Node Wisconsin
2005-2008 Distinguished Visiting Scientist/Consultant, JPL/Caltech, Pasadena, USA
2004-2005 Professor, Astrobiology, University of Leiden, Institute of Chemistry, The Netherlands
2003-2004 Professor, Astrobiology, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2002-2008 Adjunct Professor, Univ. Nijmegen, Institute of Astronomy, The Netherlands
2001-2003 Associate Professor, Leiden Observatory, The Netherlands
2019 Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, France

Memberships in Academies and Committees (currently active)

2022- President, Committee on Space Research COSPAR
2022- Member, Board of Directors, Space Foundation
2022- Member, Karista/Cosmocapital, Strategic Committee
2021- Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society, Full Member
2020- Member: World Economic Forum, Global Future Council on Space
2020- Special Advisor: Foresight, European Commission
2020- External Review Committee (ERC), MIT Portugal Program
2019- President, International Astronautical Federation IAF
2018- Honorary Member, Académie de l’Air et de l’Espace

Research Expertise and Teaching Interest

Astrophysics, Molecular Biology, Space Policy, Science and Technology Policy

Interstellar chemistry (galactic and extragalactic)
Development and operation of space simulation facilities for interstellar and planetary research (including cryo-, ultrahigh vacuum and radiation techniques)
Spectroscopy database management of ices and organics
Identification of organic molecules on planetary surfaces, comets, asteroids and meteorites
Organics and life detection on Mars
Support to instrument development for life and organic detection
Prebiotic chemistry
Field analogue research in extreme environments (Atacama desert, Utah) in support of planetary exploration
Space Policy aspects of Global Space Exploration, Earth-Space synergies

Publications per October 2022

Publications in peer-reviewed journals: 211 h-index: 72
Invited reviews, book chapters and conference papers: 135 Edition of books: 12

Selected publications in peer-reviewed journals:

P. Ehrenfreund, S.B. Charnley, S.B. (2000) “Organic molecules in the ISM, comets and meteorites: A voyage from dark clouds to the early Earth, Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics”, 38, p. 427-483
P. Ehrenfreund, W. Irvine, L. Becker, J. Blank et al. (2002) “Astrophysical and astrochemical insights into the origin of life”, Reports on Progress in Physics 65, 1427
P. Ehrenfreund, S. Rasmussen, J.H. Cleaves, L. Chen (2006) “Experimentally tracing the key steps in the origin of life”, Astrobiology 6/3, 482-513
P. Ehrenfreund, J. Cami (2010) “Cosmic carbon chemistry: from the interstellar medium to the early Earth”, in: The origin of Life, eds. D. Deamer & J. Szostak, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, 21-34
P. Ehrenfreund, W. Röling, C. Thiel, R. Quinn, M. Septhon, C. Stoker, S. Direito, M. Kotler, Z. Martins, G. Orzechowska, R. Kidd, K. van Sluis, B. H, Foing (2011) “Astrobiology and habitability studies in preparation for future Mars missions: trends from investigating minerals, organics and biota”, Intern. Journal of Astrobiology 10/3, 239-254
F. Goesmann, H. Rosenbauer, J. H. Bredehöft, M. Cabane, P. Ehrenfreund, T. Gautier, C. Giri, H. Krüger, L. Le Roy, A. J. MacDermott, S. McKenna-Lawlor, U.J. Meierhenrich, G. M. Muñoz Caro, F. Raulin, R. Roll, A. Steele, H. Steininger, R. Sternberg, C. Szopa, W. Thiemann, S. Ulamec (2015) “Organic compounds on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko revealed by COSAC mass spectrometry”, Science 349/6247
M. Bentley, R. Schmied, T. Mannel, K. Torkar, H. Jeszenszky, J. Romstedt, A.C. Levasseur- Regourd, I. Weber, E. Jessberger, P. Ehrenfreund, C. Koeberl, O. Havnes (2016) “Aggregate dust particles at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko”, Nature 537, Issue 7618, pp. 73-75
F. Gaboyer, C. Le Milbeau, M. Bohmeier, P. Schwendner, P. Vannier, K. Beblo-Vranesevic, E. Rabbow, F. Foucher, P. Gautret, R. Guégan, A. Richard, A. Sauldubois, R. Richmann, A. Perras, C. Moissl-Eichinger, C. Cockell, P. Rettberg, V. Marteinsson, E. Monaghan, P. Ehrenfreund, L. Garcia- Descalzo, F. Gomez, M. Malki, R. Amils, P. Cabezas, N. Walter, F. Westall (2017) “Mineralization and Preservation of an extremotolerant Bacterium Isolated from an Early Mars Analog Environment”, Nature Scientific Reports, 18;7(1):8775
A. Blachowicz, A.J. Chiang, A. Elsaesser, M. Kalkum, P. Ehrenfreund, J.E. Stajich, T. Torok, Clay Chia Chun Wang, K. Venkateswaran (2019) “Proteomic and Metabolomic Characteristics of Extremophilic Fungi Under Simulated Mars Conditions”, Frontiers in Microbiology, Section Extreme Microbiology, 10, 1013
M. A. Cordiner, H. Linnartz, N. L. J. Cox, J. Cami, F. Najarro, C. R. Prott, R. Lallement, P. Ehrenfreund, B. H. Foing, T. R. Gull, P. J. Sarre, S. B. Charnley (2019) “Confirming interstellar C60+ using the Hubble Space Telescope”, Astroph. Journal Letters, 875, L28
A. H. Stevens, A. McDonald, C. de Koning, A. Riedo, L.J. Preston, P. Ehrenfreund, P. Wurz, Ch. S. Cockell (2019) “Detectability of biosignatures in a low-biomass simulation of Martian sediments”, Nature, Scientific Reports, 9, 2019, 9706.
N.F.W. Ligterink, V. Grimaudo, P. Moreno-García, R. Lukmanov, M. Tulej, I. Leya, R. Lindner, P. Wurz, C.S. Cockell, P. Ehrenfreund and A. Riedo, (2020) “ORIGIN: a novel and compact Laser Desorption – Mass Spectrometry system for sensitive in situ detection of amino acids on extraterrestrial surfaces”, Nature Scientific Reports, 10, 9641
Riedo, A.; Grimaudo, V.; Aerts, J.; Lukmanov, R.; Tulej, M.; Broekmann, P.; Lindner, R.; Wurz, P.; Ehrenfreund, P.: Laser Ablation Ionization Mass Spectrometry: A space prototype system for in situ Sulphur isotope fractionation analysis on planetary surfaces, 2021, Front. Astron. Space Sci., 8, 726373, 1-12, doi: 10.3389/fspas.2021.726373
Baqué, M.; Backhaus, T.; Meeßen, J.; Hanke, F.; Böttger, U.; Ramkissoon, N.; Olsson-Francis, K.; Baumgärtner, M.; Billi, D.; Cassaro, A.; de la Torre Noetzel, R.; Demets, R.; Edwards, H.; Ehrenfreund, P.; et al.: Biosignature stability in space enables their use for life detection on Mars, 2022, Science Advances, in press
Fan, H.; Schwartz, M.; Farhang, A.; Cox, N. L. J.; Ehrenfreund, P.; Monreal-Ibero, A.; Foing, B.H.; Salama, F.; Kulik, K.; MacIsaac, H.; van Loon, J. Th.; Cami, J.: (2022) Families and Clusters of Diffuse Interstellar Bands: a Data-Driven Correlation Analysis, MNRAS, 510, 3546, DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stab3651
Schwendner, P.; Riedo, A.; Melton, D. J.; Horvath, P.; Lindner, R.; Ehrenfreund, P.; Beblo-Vranesevic, K.; Rettberg, P.; Rabbow, E.; Westall, F.; Moissl-Eichinger, C.; Garcia-Descalzo, L.; Gomez, F.; Amils, R.; Marteinsson, V.; Walter, N.; Cockell, C.S.: Microbial degradation of amino acids as a potential biosignature, 2022, Front. Astron. Space Sci., 9, 781542, 1-10, DOIi: 10.3389/fspas.2022.781542
Schwander, L.; Ligterink, N.F.W.; Kipfer, K.A.; Lukmanov, R.; Grimaudo, V.; Tulej, M.; de Koning, C.P.; Keresztes, P.; Gruchola, S.N.; Boeren, N.J.; Ehrenfreund, P.; Wurz, P.; Riedo, A. : Correlation network analysis for amino acid identification in soil samples with the ORIGIN space-prototype instrument, 2022, Front. Astron. Space Sci., 9, 909193, 1-12, DOI: 10.3389/fspas.2022.909193
M. Baqué, T. Backhaus, J. Meeßen, F. Hanke, U. Böttger, N. Ramkissoon, K. Olsson-Francis, M. Baumgärtner, D. Billi, A. Cassaro, R. de la Torre Noetzel, R. Demets, H. Edwards, P. Ehrenfreund, A. Elsaesser, B. Foing, et al. (2022) “Biosignature stability in space enables their use for life detection on Mars”, Science Advances, Science Advances Vol 8, Issue 36, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abn7412

Fellowships, Prizes & Awards (recent)

2022- 2023 Stanford University’s Top 2% Scientists
2022- Polarstern Preis, Österreichisches Weltraum Forum
2022- Harrie Massey Award, COSPAR
2020- Jean Dominique Cassini Medal, European Geophysical Union
2020- Women in Aerospace Europe, Outstanding Achievement Award
2019- Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, France