ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING CHALLENGES OF OUR TIMES IS THE IDENTIFICATION OF LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS. WITH THIS GOAL IN MIND THE SEARCH FOR WATER ON MARS AS WELL AS ITS HABITABILITY FOR LIVING ORGANISMS IS A FOCAL POINT OF ASTROBIOLOGICAL RESEARCH. THE 2015 REPORT ON MARS SCIENCE GOALS FROM THE MEPAG GOALS COMMITTEE SET A PRIORITY UPON DETERMINING IF ENVIRONMENTS WITH HIGH POTENTIAL FOR CURRENT HABITABILITY AND EXPRESSION OF BIOSIGNATURES CONTAIN EVIDENCE OF EXTANT LIFE. CRYOCONITE HOLES ON EARTH ARE MINI-ENTRAINED ECOSYSTEMS FOUND IN THE ABLATION ZONE OF GLACIERS WORLDWIDE THAT PROVIDE CONDITIONS BY WHICH SUBSURFACE LIQUID WATER CAN EXIST IN SPITE OF OTHERWISE HOSTILE ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS. PROVIDING A REFUGE FOR MICROBIAL LIFE THESE HOLES ARE MADE UP OF SEDIMENTS BIOTA AND ORGANIC MATERIAL. THE MCMURDO DRY VALLEYS HAVE LONG BEEN RECOGNIZED AMONG THE BEST TERRESTRIAL ANALOGS FOR CONDITIONS ON MARS WITH CRYOCONITE HOLES BEING THE PROPOSED HABITAT FOR LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS. THE PRESENT STUDY PROPOSES THE EXISTENCE OF CRYOCONITE HOLE GLACIAL LIKE FEATURES ON MARS THAT COULD HARBOR ANCIENT BURIED LIFE OR MICROENVIRONMENTS. OUR HYPOTHESIS IS SUPPORTED BY RECENT FINDINGS INDICATING THE PRESENCE OF LIQUID WATER PATCHES ON DEPOSITED MINERAL GRAINS (KERESZTURI AND RIVERA-VALENTIN 2012) THAT REACH TEMPERATURES UP TO -38 C (KIEFFER ET AL. 2006) ON MARS SOUTHERN POLAR REGION POTENTIALLY PROVIDING CONDITIONS SIMILAR TO THOSE PRESENT IN CRYOCONITE HOLES ON EARTH. ONE OF THE MOST PROMISING METHODS OF SEARCHING FOR LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS/MOONS HAS COME FROM THE INTERPRETATION OF HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGES. ALTHOUGH HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGES RECEIVED FROM ROVERS AND SATELLITES ARE PROMISING ALBEIT CONFOUNDING THE VALIDATION OF RELIABLE BIOMARKERS REMAINS ONGOING. THE HYPERSPECTRAL AND ASSOCIATED MEASUREMENTS WE PROPOSE TO COLLECT WILL BE USED TO SUPPORT THE ANALYSIS OF DATA COLLECTED BY THE COMPACT RECONNAISSANCE IMAGING SPECTROMETER FOR MARS (CRISM) THE OMEGA SPECTROMETER ON THE MARS EXPRESS ESA MISSION AND THE THEMIS INSTRUMENT ON THE MARS ODYSSEY MISSION THROUGH FOR EXAMPLE SPECTRAL UNMIXING AND ENDMEMBERS ANALYSIS. BY STUDYING THE TERRESTRIAL ANALOGS OF CRYOCONITE HOLES IN ANTARCTICA WE CAN ISOLATE AND CULTURE CRYOCONITE ORGANISMS DETERMINE THEIR SPECTRAL SIGNATURES THROUGH IN-SITU AND LABORATORY HYPERSPECTRAL MEASUREMENTS AND DEVELOP A SPECTRAL LIBRARY OF BIOSIGNATURES. IN THIS CONTEXT CRYOCONITE HOLES REPRESENT A UNIQUE ENVIRONMENT ON EARTH THAT RESEMBLES LIFE ON MARS. CONSEQUENTLY OUR PROJECT DIRECTLY ADDRESSES SEVERAL OF THE MAIN PROGRAM ELEMENTS OF THE NEW ASTROBIOLOGY STRATEGY (2015) NAMELY EARLY LIFE AND INCREASING COMPLEXITY CO-EVOLUTION OF LIFE AND THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT AND IDENTIFYING EXPLORING AND CHARACTERIZING ENVIRONMENTS FOR HABITABILITY AND BIOSIGNATURES. WITH THIS RESEARCH WE PROPOSE THREE BROAD GOALS: 1) CHARACTERIZE THE IN SITU PHYSICAL BIOLOGICAL AND GEOCHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CRYOCONITE HOLES FROM TWO GLACIERS IN THE TAYLOR VALLEY ANTARCTICA AND RELATE THEM TO IN SITU UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE (UAV) AND HELICOPTER-BASED HYPERSPECTRAL MEASUREMENTS; 2) COMPLEMENT THE LIBRARY OF IN SITU SPECTRAL/PHYSICAL PROPERTIES DATA FROM FIELD MEASUREMENTS WITH SPECTRAL MEASUREMENTS OF SIMULATED CRYOCONITE HOLE PARAMETERS UNDER CONTROLLED LABORATORY SETTINGS; AND 3) APPLY THESE SPECTRAL LIBRARIES TO HYPERSPECTRAL DATA COLLECTED OVER MARS FOR MAPPING THE POTENTIAL EXISTENCE OF SPECTRAL SIGNS OF LIFE IN MARTIAN ICE. USING HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGING TO INVESTIGATE THE ACCURATE DETECTION OF BIOSIGNATURES IN CRYOCONITE HOLES WE WILL PROVIDE THE EXOBIOLOGY COMMUNITY WITH A CRUCIAL TOOL FOR INTERPRETING HYPERSPECTRAL DATA COLLECTED OVER MARS OR OTHER EXTRATERRESTRIAL BODIES BUILD SPECTRAL LIBRARIES OF SELECTED MATERIALS FOR WHICH FUTURE MISSIONS CAN SEARCH AND HELP FACILITATE SITE SELECTION FOR FUTURE MISSIONS.