Astrobiology: Life in the Universe

NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI)


  1. Now showing: Year 2007 projects that addressed Astrobiology Roadmap Objective 6.1

  2. Roadmap Goal 6: Understand the principles that will shape the future of life, both on Earth and beyond

    Objective 6.1: Environmental changes and the cycling of elements by the biota, communities, and ecosystems

    Biosignatures in chemosynthetic and photosynthetic systems

    TEAM: ARC / ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 7.1, 7.2

    Drilling a borehole for sampling of gases, water, and microbes in sub-permafrost groundwater at High Lake, Nunavut Territory, Canada

    TEAM: IPTAI / ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1, 2.2, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 6.1, 6.2

    Ecosystem to Biosphere Modeling

    TEAM: ARC / ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1, 5.3, 6.1, 7.2

    Evolution of abiotic environments to ecosystems

    TEAM: IPTAI / ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 7.2

    Evolution of Atmospheric O2, Climate, and Biosphere (Ohmoto)

    TEAM: PSU / ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1, 2.1, 4.1, 4.3, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 7.1

    Examination of the Microbial Diversity Found in Ice Cores (Brenchley)

    TEAM: PSU / ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1

    Experimental Study of Radiolytic Oxidation of Pyrite as a source of sulfate and hydrogen to sustain microbial metabolism

    TEAM: IPTAI / ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.3, 5.3, 6.1, 6.2

    Geomicrobiology of neutrophilic iron-oxidizing bacteria at Loihi Seamount

    TEAM: UH / ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 6.1

    High-temperature, High-pressure Microcosms to Study the Bio-molecular Basis for the Upper Temperature Limits to Life

    TEAM: CIW / ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.2, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 6.1, 7.2

    Hindcasting Ecosystems

    TEAM: ARC / ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 6.1

    Identifying microbial life at crustal rock-water interfaces

    TEAM: CUB / ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1, 5.2, 5.3, 6.1, 7.1

    In situ voltammetry integrated with a cabled nearshore observatory

    TEAM: UH / ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 5.1, 6.1

    Investigations of Modern Analogues of Precambrian Microbial Ecosystems

    TEAM: PSU / ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1, 4.3, 6.1

    Iron Oxidation - Shaping the Past and Present Environments

    TEAM: MBL / ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1, 5.2, 5.3, 6.1, 7.2

    Microbial Diversity in the Deep Ocean

    TEAM: MBL / ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 6.1

    Molecular Survey of Microbial Diversity in Hypersaline Ecosystems

    TEAM: CUB / ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 3.4, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1

    Planetary Biology, Evolution, and Intelligence

    TEAM: SETI / ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 7.2

    Project 6. Molecular and Isotopic Biosignatures

    TEAM: CIW / ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 5.3, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 7.2

    Rapid response to remotely detected seafloor eruptions

    TEAM: UH / ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1, 5.3, 6.1

    Re-tracing Steps Towards a Habitable World: The Biogeochemical Evolution of Sulfur on the Early Earth.

    TEAM: CUB / ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1

    Retentostat Studies of Subsurface Sulfate Reducing Bacterium

    TEAM: IPTAI / ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 7.2

    Rise of Oxygen, Modern Analogs for Anoxic Oceans, and Effect of early life on soil development

    TEAM: PSU / ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1, 4.1, 4.3, 6.1, 7.1, 7.2

    Simulating Preservation of Amino Acids and Peptides in Evaporitic Sulfate Deposits on the Surface of Mars

    TEAM: IPTAI / ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1, 2.2, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1

    Subseafloor basement (basalt) biosphere studies

    TEAM: UH / ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1, 3.3, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 6.1, 6.2