"Will the mass burning of gasoline eventually cause the earth to become lighter and subsequently change its orbit?"
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Impacts Focus Group Activities
A UCLA-sponsored Rubey Colloquium entitled “Impacts and the Origin, Evolution, and Extinction of Life” provided the first opportunity for those interested in the Impacts Focus Group to voice their interests and opinions about possible areas of study. Approximately 30 experts were invited to speak on topics such as impacts as links to catastrophic mass extinctions, impacts and their environmental effects, and impacts as a mechanism for dispersal of life within the solar system or across interstellar space. This colloquium brought together key players in the field, helped to elucidate important questions that could be addressed by the IFG, and brought more of the astrobiological perspective into this already mature field. The Rubey Colloquium book of abstracts is available on-line at: http://www.ess.ucla.edu/rubey/abstract.pdf. In addition, as described in the May 29 Issue of the NAI Newsletter, many papers generated from this colloquium were published in the Spring 2003 issue of Astrobiology.
The acquisition, distribution, and analysis of samples are expected to begin as soon as the research objectives of the IFG have been refined and finalized; and when the target samples have been identified and prioritized. A first year summary meeting will discuss progress, cooperative efforts, and a new prioritization of sample areas and/or their identification.
