NASA has
awarded five-year grants, averaging $7 million each, to 10 research teams
from across the country to study the origins, evolution, distribution, and
future of life in the universe.
The interdisciplinary teams will become new members of the NASA
Astrobiology Institute, located at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett
Field, Calif. Teams from the University of Hawaii in Honolulu; Arizona
State University in Tempe; the Carnegie Institution of Washington;
Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pa.; the Georgia
Institute of Technology in Atlanta; and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in
Troy, N.Y., have been selected as members.
Teams from Ames, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.,
and two teams led by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.,
also have been selected.
"The research of these new teams reflects the increasing maturity of
astrobiology," said NASA Astrobiology Institute Director Carl Pilcher of
Ames. "They are focused on fundamental questions of life in the universe,
but their work has implications for all of science. The research of these
teams, together with that of the four continuing institute teams, will
bridge the basic science of astrobiology to NASA's current and planned
space exploration missions."
The University of Hawaii will investigate the origin, history, and
distribution of water and its relation to life in the universe.
Arizona State University will develop new, more refined criteria to
guide the search for life by characterizing life's elemental requirements.
This will be developed by a "follow the elements" strategy for
investigating habitability in extraterrestrial environments.
Carnegie Institution of Washington will conduct a wide range of
research. They will focus on life's chemical and physical evolution, from
the interstellar medium, through planetary systems, to the emergence and
detection of life.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will conduct a multifaceted, highly
integrated, program of interdisciplinary research on setting the stage for
life. This will focus on the origins of relevant molecules and habitable
environments, and on the processes by which chemical evolution leads to
life.
Pennsylvania State University will develop novel approaches to
detecting and characterizing life. Investigations will include indicators
or signatures of life in mission-relevant ecosystems and ancient rocks, and
evaluating the potential for these signatures in extraterrestrial settings.
The Georgia Institute of Technology will pursue the scientific goal of
rewinding the tape of life to before the last universal common ancestor of
all living organisms. This could shed light on the nature of protein
synthesis by the earliest living systems.
Ames will conduct a program of integrative, mission-enabling research
to investigate the creation and distribution of early habitable
environments in emerging planetary systems. Goddard will evaluate the
possible role of organic material from space in the origin of life on
Earth, and advance understanding of organics on other worlds.
The first of two JPL teams will be devoted to an interdisciplinary
investigation of chemistry on Saturn's moon Titan. The team will focus on
Titan's physical environment to provide a basis for understanding the
chemistry of early Earth, which was the precursor for life. The second JPL
team will investigate the habitability of icy worlds, such as Titan, and
Saturn moons Europa and Enceladus. They also will investigate how life
could be detected in such environments and begin to define related
instrumentation for future missions.
"The new teams provide a superb foundation for the institute as it
enters its second decade," said Jim Green, Planetary Science Division
director at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "They bring together the many
disciplines necessary for a comprehensive interdisciplinary approach to
studying life in the universe."
The new members join four continuing teams led by Montana State
University in Bozeman, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in
Cambridge, the University of Washington in Seattle, and the University of
Wisconsin in Madison.
Source: NASA
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