Amy E. Hofmann

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Space Research Institute

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Amy E. Hofmann is a planetary scientist whose research lies at the critical intersection of astrobiology, space mission instrumentation, and planetary protection. Her most impactful work addresses a fundamental challenge for future life-detection missions: understanding how biosignatures—molecular evidence of life—survive the extreme conditions of hypervelocity sampling. In her highly cited 2021 study (41 citations), Hofmann investigated the atomic-scale fragmentation of organic molecules during impacts exceeding 3 km/s, revealing that the very process of collecting samples from icy moons or asteroids may destroy the fragile biosignatures we seek. This work has direct implications for missions to Enceladus, Europa, and Mars, where sampling strategies must account for these degradation pathways. Hofmann also contributed to the AMADEE-18 Mars analog mission (2020), where she helped design and execute remote science operations in a simulated planetary surface environment. Her research bridges laboratory experiments, computational modeling, and field simulations, providing a rigorous framework for interpreting data from current and future space missions. By quantifying the limits of biosignature preservation, Hofmann is helping to ensure that when we finally detect life beyond Earth, we can trust what we find.