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Letter from the Director
We live in exciting times. From an astrobiological perspective, the enduring triumph of the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity , the promise of Cassini-Huygens, and the accumulating catalog of extrasolar planets and planetary systems, are obvious highlights. We also live in interesting times. The transformation of NASA from an agency focused on the origin, future, and occurrence of life in the Universe (NASA 2003 Strategic Plan) to one with a novel Vision for Space Exploration is still underway.
The broad astrobiological goals, articulated in the Strategic Plan and the Astrobiology Roadmap, remain the...
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Project Reports
Organized by Astrobiology Roadmap Objective (2003 Version)
- Objective 1.1: Models of formation and evolution of habitable planets (35 reports)
- Objective 1.2: Indirect and direct astronomical observations of extrasolar habitable planets (23 reports)
- Objective 2.1: Mars exploration (19 reports)
- Objective 2.2: Outer Solar System exploration (9 reports)
- Objective 3.1: Sources of prebiotic materials and catalysts (27 reports)
- Objective 3.2: Origins and evolution of functional biomolecules (20 reports)
- Objective 3.3: Origins of energy transduction (6 reports)
- Objective 3.4: Origins of cellularity and protobiological systems (9 reports)
- Objective 4.1: Earth's early biosphere (44 reports)
- Objective 4.2: Foundations of complex life (29 reports)
- Objective 4.3: Effects of extraterrestrial events upon the biosphere (21 reports)
- Objective 5.1: Environment-dependent, molecular evolution in microorganisms (34 reports)
- Objective 5.2: Co-evolution of microbial communities (31 reports)
- Objective 5.3: Biochemical adaptation to extreme environments (38 reports)
- Objective 6.1: Environmental changes and the cycling of elements by the biota, communities, and ecosystems (31 reports)
- Objective 6.2: Adaptation and evolution of life beyond Earth (27 reports)
- Objective 7.1: Biosignatures to be sought in Solar System materials (25 reports)
- Objective 7.2: Biosignatures to be sought in nearby planetary systems (32 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
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: