NAI EC meeting 6/15/07
Members of the NAI Executive Council present:
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Director |
Pilcher |
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Deputy Director |
Goolish |
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Team |
PI |
Representative |
Notes |
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ARC |
DesMarais |
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UW-VPL |
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Kasting |
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CIW |
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Steele |
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CUB |
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Weisacosky |
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GSFC |
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Deming |
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IPTAI |
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Droppo |
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MBL |
Sogin |
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MIT |
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MON |
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Douglas |
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PSU |
Ohmoto |
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SI |
Mancinelli |
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UA |
Woolf |
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UCB |
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Manga |
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UCLA |
Young |
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UH |
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Cowen |
On phone |
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UWisc |
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Affiliation/Institution |
Attendee |
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NAI International Partner |
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NAI Central |
Abe, Boldt, Dolci, Evans, Kirven-Brooks, Scalice |
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NASA HQ |
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NAI Team Members |
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EPO Rep |
DeVore |
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Other attendees |
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Carl Pilcher opened the meeting at 10:00 AM
Pilcher advised the EC that the NRC review committee may contact them with questions about the NAI, and reminded the group that only the NAI is under review, not the entire astrobiology program.
The next American Society for Microbiology meeting will be June 1 – 5, 2008 in Boston and many NAI members are interested in organizing an astrobiology session at this meeting. Session topics can be submitted at http://gm.asm.org/session-proposal/session-proposal.asp and the organizing committee will review and make decisions in October.
The Science Steering Committee (SSC) has formed with about two dozen members at present. Edna DeVore is a member of both the SSC and is leading the Local Organizing Committee. Ariel Anbar is the chair of the SSC and Tori Hoehler and Pascale Ehrenfreund are vice chairs. There will be three themes, one for each day: Context for Life, Origin and Evolution of Life and the Search for Life.
The due date for Notices of Intent to propose to the Lunar Advanced Science and Exploration Research (LASER) solicitation is July 6, 2007 and proposals are due on September 20, 2007.
NAI Postdoctoral Program (NPP) selection
Julian Foriel has been selected in the March cycle of the NAI postdoctoral program to receive a fellowship to work with Roger Buick at the University of Washington. His research will focus on the use of selenium isotopes as a method to probe the oxygenation of Earth’s early atmosphere.
NAI Focus Groups
A chair is still being sought for the Lunar Focus Group. A proposal, from Andrew Pohorille, for the Origin of Life Focus Group will be circulated to the EC.
Astrobiology Small Payloads Workshop
At John Rummel’s request, a workshop will be held at ARC from June 18 – 20 to discuss astrobiology experiments on small spacecraft.
Executive Council Charter
An updated Executive Council Charter has been posted on the EC website for review. The first page is a summary of comments received on the draft that was circulated previously, and actions relating to those comments. If there are no further comments or requested changes, the Charter will be considered approved and will be posted as such in the EC section of the NAI website.
EC Round Table
MBL
Julie Huber, an NAI NPP fellow has been selected to receive a fellowship as part of the AAAS's Education and Human Resources Program and sponsored by L'Oréal USA Fellowships for Women in Science Program.
UA
A paper is due out in Nature on VY Canis Majoris with findings of hydrogen cyanide in large abundance even though it is an oxygen rich star. A National Academy of Science report has been released entitled “The Scientific Context for Exploration of the Moon: Final Report (2007)”. A comment in Nature was published regarding Roger Angel’s proposal of Earth sunshades to combat global warming.
UCLA
A paper is due out in Geology from Kevin McKeegan and Bill Schopf, describing graphite-containing apatite inclusions older than 3 billion years, measured by Raman spectroscopy. A description by Ed Young was published in Perspectives in Science Express, of work by UCLA’s Japanese colleagues, regarding oxygen isotope levels in a primitive meteorite, at double the amount expected.
UCB
Members of the UCB group published evidence for the presence of an ancient Martian ocean in Nature. This is the work that was presented at the May 2007 in person EC meeting. Another paper in Science by John Moreau described a protein, released by bacteria, that aggregates metal particles into immobile clumps.
PSU
The 9th annual PSARC annual meeting was held on May 12. Twenty-five to thirty papers were presented by students, post docs and PIs. A workshop and field trip are planned in Sudbury, Ontario in September, with the focus of Biosignatures in Ancient Rocks, http://psarc.geosc.psu.edu/RESEARCH/New_Conference/Ontario_new.htm. Ohmoto invites names of additional graduates students and young scientists interested in biosignatures in archean and proterozoic rocks.
UH
Kim Binsted is on Bathen Island, participating in field research with the Mars Society FMARS long duration study and testing autonomous sensor networks. Gary Huss reports that the new ion probe, funded by the U. Hawaii, Keck Fdn and a NASA SRLIDAP grant, is a great success. In a report to the Lunar and Planetary Society conference, they report oxygen isotope data at 0.5/ml, isotopes of Fe60 , Mn53, Al 26, and they have doubled the database of chondrules from which iron60 has been measured. A successful field trip to Iceland was completed on June 9 with good sampling. Many members of the team participated in the AAS meeting May 27 – 31, with 11 oral talks and 4 posters. Karen Meech and Nader Haghighipour presented a session on Water in Habitable Planetary Systems and Nader Haghighipour and Eric Gaidos had a second session on Hot Earths. Mary Kadooka is in the midst of a teacher workshop with astrobiology postdocs and PIs.
ARC
Tori Hoehler is planning a workshop, Microbial Life Under Extreme Energy Limitation, in Denmark in late October, http://mit.biology.au.dk/microenergy/, NAI is supporting travel for four NAI-affiliated students or postdocs. The Ames group has successfully competed for two Google grants, 1) Dave DesMarais/Chris Potter - Tracking Sea Level Rise and Climate Change by Remote Sensing of Marine Coastal Plants and Intertidal Microbial Mats and 2) examining cyanobacteria on the moon. A biomining workshop was held at ARC 6 weeks ago, examining methods to recover oxygen from the lunar regolith and the ARC group was asked to advise on the likelihood of success of using microorganisms in such an application. The International Space Science Institute has published a book on ExoMars with chapters on habitability.
SETI
The Research Experience for Undergraduates program had 115 applicants, 15 were selected, four of whom will be supported by an NAI DDF award. The fourth annual Astrobiology Summer Science Experience for Teachers will be held in late June. The Alien Earths exhibit is opening at the Turtle Bay Museum in Redding. CA. EPO will be integrated into the AbSciCon topical sessions.
CIW
A paper has been submitted on abiotic C isotope ratios, using CIW’s igneous petrology gear. A second paper will be released next month on raman imaging of AH84001. They are gearing up for the next Svalbard mission in which they will field test a variety of instruments. A paper is to be released in the August edition of Astrobiology on the Astrobiology Field Lab. A report on the future of astrobiology on Mars will be coming out from the NRC in the next few weeks. The LOCAD experiment on the ISS is underway with Sunita Williams.
GSFC
Mumma on way to VLT in Chile. Nine summer undergraduate interns are on board.
IPTAI
Paper to appear in Geophysical Research Letters on a mechanism for recent methane release on Mars. A plan is in place for completing the well at High Lake in Canada at the end of July. They plan to establish a satellite link to connect Indiana University with the field site, and the Discovery Channel may be filming while they are there. They have new data on the Cavity Ring-Down Spectrometer (CRDS) to measure the isotopic abundances of methane, with hopes to develop it into a flight instrument. Paul Mahaffy is working with the team.
MON
A team meeting is planned in early September. The Stonybrook team, John Parise and Martin Schoonen, have published in Science Express a spectroscopic analysis of ferrihydrite using a syncotron-based technique to look at very small structures of metal oxide and metal sulfide.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:20.