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"I was wondering if the Planet around 51Pegasi is really sutable for human life and if other planets are too."
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Letter from the Director
Astrobiology thrives. This was strikingly obvious at the NAI 2005 “all hands” meeting of the Astrobiology Institute, hosted by the University of Colorado NAI Team, in Boulder, last March. A majority of the 500 participants were young astrobiologists who are making important experimental, observational, and theoretical contributions towards understanding how life originates and evolves, here and elsewhere. The sessions were lively and comfortably multidisciplinary in a way that was not seen in the early days of the Institute.
This year, these and the other achievements of the NASA Astrobiology Institute are made available in...
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Project Reports
Organized by Astrobiology Roadmap Objective (2003 Version)
- Objective 1.1: Models of formation and evolution of habitable planets (41 reports)
- Objective 1.2: Indirect and direct astronomical observations of extrasolar habitable planets (27 reports)
- Objective 2.1: Mars exploration (30 reports)
- Objective 2.2: Outer Solar System exploration (22 reports)
- Objective 3.1: Sources of prebiotic materials and catalysts (42 reports)
- Objective 3.2: Origins and evolution of functional biomolecules (18 reports)
- Objective 3.3: Origins of energy transduction (9 reports)
- Objective 3.4: Origins of cellularity and protobiological systems (9 reports)
- Objective 4.1: Earth's early biosphere (41 reports)
- Objective 4.2: Foundations of complex life (30 reports)
- Objective 4.3: Effects of extraterrestrial events upon the biosphere (20 reports)
- Objective 5.1: Environment-dependent, molecular evolution in microorganisms (33 reports)
- Objective 5.2: Co-evolution of microbial communities (29 reports)
- Objective 5.3: Biochemical adaptation to extreme environments (45 reports)
- Objective 6.1: Environmental changes and the cycling of elements by the biota, communities, and ecosystems (39 reports)
- Objective 6.2: Adaptation and evolution of life beyond Earth (24 reports)
- Objective 7.1: Biosignatures to be sought in Solar System materials (27 reports)
- Objective 7.2: Biosignatures to be sought in nearby planetary systems (35 reports)
- Objective NAI1: carrying out, supporting and catalyzing collaborative interdisciplinary research (16 reports)
- Objective NAI2: training the next generation of astrobiology researchers (13 reports)
- Objective NAI3: providing scientific and technical leadership on astrobiology investigations for current and future space missions (7 reports)
- Objective NAI4: exploring new approaches using modern information technology to conduct interdisciplinary and collaborative research amongst widely-distributed investigators (14 reports)
- Objective NAI5: supporting outreach by providing scientific content for K-12 education programs, teaching undergraduate classes, and communicating directly with the public (11 reports)
Goal 1: Understand the nature and distribution of habitable environments in the Universe
Goal 2: Explore for past or present habitable environments, prebiotic chemistry and signs of life elsewhere in our Solar System
Goal 3: Understand how life originates from cosmic and planetary precursors
Goal 4: Understand how past life on Earth interacted with its changing planetary and Solar System environment
Goal 5: Understand the evolutionary mechanisms and environmental limits of life
Goal 6: Understand the principles that will shape the future of life, both on Earth and beyond
Goal 7: Determine how to recognize signatures of life on other worlds and on early Earth
Goal 0:
Project Reports
Organized by Team
- Carnegie Institution of Washington
- Indiana University, Bloomington
- Marine Biological Laboratory
- Michigan State University
- NASA Ames Research Center
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
- Pennsylvania State University
- SETI Institute
- University of Arizona
- University of California, Berkeley
- University of California, Los Angeles
- University of Colorado, Boulder
- University of Hawaii
- University of Rhode Island
- University of Washington
- Virtual Planetary Laboratory (JPL/CalTech)
See reports from other years:
Project reports organized by team: