NASA Astrobiology Overview and informatio

Boston, Penelope J.

NASA Technical Reports Server

1NASA Astrobiology Institute 
Penelope J. Boston
NASA Astrobiology Institute
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035
2018
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20180007347 2019-08-31T18:10:28+00:00Z
2How does life begin & evolve?
Astrobiology
3 fundamental questions
What is the future of life 
on Earth & beyond?
Does life exist elsewhere 
in the universe?
Mars: NASA's Journey to Mars
Habitability 
of Early Mars
Technology: Technology Drives Exploration
Global Partnerships Employing 
Collaborative Technologies 
Origin and 
Nature of Life, 
Co-evolution 
with Planet Earth
Icy Worlds: 
Habitability 
and Life 
Detection  
Exoplanet
Biosignatures
Solar System and Beyond: 
Our Journey of DiscoveryNASA Astrobiology Institute
LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE
NAI: the Community
4Astrobiology 
Planetary Science Division (PSD), Research & Analysis Program 
Experimental petrology
COLLABORATION
Geology
Biology
Astronomy
Chemistry
Physics
Planetary SciencePhilosophy
Paleontology
Evolution Earth ScienceGeography
Anthropology
Biotechnology
GeneticsMicrobiology
Oceanography
Virology
Planetary Sciences Mineralogy
Applied Mathematics
Bioinformatics
Cellular Biology
Ecology
Isotope Geochemistry
Marine Biology
Organic Chemistry
Paleobiology
Theoretical Astrophysics
Zoology
Remote Sensing
Molecular Biophysics Soil Science
Philosophy
Meteorology
Volcanology Geochemistry
Environmental Fluid Mechanics
Computational Science & Engineering
Earth Science
Genetics
Geomicrobiology
Infrared Astronomy Marine Chemistry
Life Sciences
Materials Science
Marine Biogeochemistry
Molecular Biophysics
Molecular Biology
Planetary Dynamics
Soil Chemistry
Theoretical Physics
Solid State Physics
Physical ScienceMicrobial Ecology
Geophysical Sciences
Inorganic Chemistry
Astrobiology
Astrogeophysics
Biometeorology
Astrophysics
Astrochemistry
Artificial Intelligence
NAI Mission Statement
5 Elements
Education and Outreach
In Transition…
Train the Next Generation 
of Astrobiologists
Collaborative, 
Interdisciplinary Research
Provide Leadership for 
NASA Space Missions
Information Technology 
for Research
NAI: A Virtual Institute Without Walls
• Competitively-selected science 
teams, each a consortium (currently 
12 teams)
• ~600 members at ~100 participating 
institutions
• ~320 “senior” scientists  
• ~280 postdocs and students             
• ~20 members of the US 
National Academy of Sciences
• Managed/integrated by a central 
office at NASA Ames Research 
Center
CAN 6 TEAMS
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• University of Southern California
• University of Wisconsin
• VPL at University of Washington
RROTATING 
CAN 7 TEAMS
• NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• NASA Ames Research Center
• NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• SETI Institute
• University of Colorado in Boulder
• University of California, Riverside
• University of Montana in Missoula
CAN 8 TEAMS
• Pennsylvania State University
• NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Rutgers University
NAI CAN 6, 7, & 8 Teams
University of California, 
Riverside
NASA Ames 
Research Center
University of Illinois, 
Urbana-Champaign
NASA Goddard 
Space Flight Center
NASA Jet Propulsion 
Laboratory
University of Montana 
In Missoula
University of 
Colorado in Boulder
Massachusetts 
Institute of 
Technology
SETI Institute
University of
Southern California
University of Wisconsin
VPL at University 
of Washington
CAN 6: University of Washington
. . to develop, refine and combine     
1-D and 3-D climate, 
photochemical, radiative transfer, 
atmospheric escape, planetary 
interior, biogeochemical, 
biological productivity, vegetation, 
orbital evolution and planet 
formation models and, 
. . as input to these models, to 
obtain laboratory, field and 
observational data from the 
stellar, planetary and biological 
sciences, and
. . use these results to recognize 
habitable worlds and to 
discriminate between the spectra 
of planets with and without life, 
by understanding the signatures 
of life in the context of their 
planetary environment
The Virtual Planetary Laboratory
PI is Victoria Meadows
CAN 6: University of Illinois
• Study the general physical principles 
underlying the emergence of life –
a mathematical basis for the 
emergence of evolvable dynamical 
processes
• Investigate Life before the Last 
Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA) 
– the “progenote”, a hypothetical 
communal state of gene sharing that 
preceded cellular life, using detailed 
and sophisticated analyses of core 
translational machinery
• Examine how environmental 
conditions affect the speed with which 
evolutionary adaptation takes place, 
i.e., how the ability to evolve itself 
evolves
PI is Nigel Goldenfield
Towards Universal Biology: Constraints from Early and Continuing Evolutionary Dynamics of Life on Earth
• Understand the emergence of cellular 
machinery following the progenote state –
focusing on mining Archaeal genomes, 
searching for the ancestors at the root of the 
Eukarya-Archaeal branching and determining 
how genomes became more stable over 
evolutionary time
Habitability, Life Detection, and the Signatures 
of Life on the Terrestrial Planets
. . to develop, using Mars analog 
environments, new approaches for the detection 
of biomolecules, and increase our knowledge of 
biomolecule-rock substrate interactions
. . to develop a mechanistic understanding of 
the proxies that have been used to interpret 
ancient rocks and ancient microbial ecology –
and to develop new proxies focusing on three 
mineral groups: clays, Fe-Si oxides, and 
carbonates
. .  to use the ancient rock record on Earth, 
largely using isotopic tracers, to understand the 
co-evolution of the environment and a diverse 
range of microbial metabolisms – providing an 
essential interpretive context for studies of 
ancient rocks on Mars
CAN 6: University of Wisconsin
PI is Clark Johnson
CAN 6: University of Southern California
PI is Jan Amend
Life Underground
 What spectral/optical signals 
indicate the presence of biomass?
 What kind of metabolic activities 
can be detected/measured in situ?
 What is the limit of resolution        
of biomass detection in deep 
subsurface samples?
 Can one distinguish                   
living from dead 
biomass in situ?
PI is Roger Summons
CAN 6: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Foundations of Complex Life: Evolution, Preservation and Detection on Earth and Beyond
Questions to be addressed include:
• What is the relationship between genomic and morphological complexity?
• What caused large Neoproterozoic (1000-542 million years ago) perturbations of 
the carbon cycle, and how do they relate to the emergence of biological complexity?
• What principles and mechanisms determine the preservation of organic matter and 
fossils, through time and in relation to ocean-atmosphere chemistry?
• What taphonomic insights drawn from these studies apply elsewhere, particularly 
Gale Crater on Mars?
CAN 7: The SETI Institute
Changing Planetary Environments & the Fingerprints of Life
Develop a roadmap to biosignature
exploration in support of NASA’s decadal 
plan for the search for life on Mars
“How do we identify and cache 
the most valuable samples?”
The Signatures of Habitability:
Mars Ancient Mineral Record and 
Terrestrial  Aerial Imagery
Taphonomic Windows & 
Biosignature Preservation: 
Earth Analogs 
Environmental Control on the 
Survival & Preservation 
Potential of Organic Molecules
Adaptive Detection of 
Biosignatures: Applying Data 
Fusion, Novelty Detection, and 
Autonomous Detection of 
Biogenicity
PI is Nathalie Cabrol
CAN 7: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Icy Worlds: Astrobiology at the Rock-Water Interface and Beyond
PI is Isik Kanik
How can geochemical disequilibria drive the emergence of metabolism and 
ultimately generate observable signatures on icy worlds?
CAN 7: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• What material was 
delivered? 
• How was prebiotic matter 
synthesized and processed?
• What dynamical 
mechanisms delivered these 
primitive bodies?
• Can we find evidence for 
habitability elsewhere in the 
present day Solar System?
• Develop instrument 
protocols for future in situ 
investigations.
PI is Mike Mumma
Origin and Evolution of Organics and Water in Planetary Systems
Did delivery of exogenous 
organics and water enable 
the emergence and 
evolution of life? Why is 
Earth wet and alive?
CAN 7: NASA Ames Research Center
The Evolution of Prebiotic Chemical Complexity and the Organic Inventory of Protoplanetary
Disks and Primordial Planets PI is Scott Sandford
. . . to understand the chemical 
processes at every stage in the 
evolution of organic chemical 
complexity, from quiescent 
regions of dense molecular 
clouds, through all stages of 
cloud collapse, protostellar disk, 
and planet formation, and 
ultimately to the materials that 
rain down on planets - and to 
understand how these depend 
on environmental parameters 
like the ambient radiation field 
and the abundance of H2O.
CAN 7: University of California, Riverside
PI is Timothy Lyons
Alternative Earths: Explaining Persistent Inhabitation on a Dynamic Early Earth
How has Earth remained persistently inhabited through most of its dynamic history, 
and how do those varying states of inhabitation manifest in the atmosphere?
CAN 7: University of Montana (Georgia Tech)
RELIVING THE PAST: Experimental Evolution of Major Transitions in the History of Life
PI is Frank Rosenzweig
Organized around five questions related to major transitions in the history of Life:
How do enzymes and metabolic networks evolve? 
How did the eukaryotic cell come to be? 
How do symbioses arise? 
How does multicellularity evolve? and 
How do pleiotropy, epistasis and mutation rate constrain the evolution of novel traits? 
A unifying theme underlying these questions is: how do cooperative vs. 
competitive interactions play out in driving major transitions that occur when 
independently replicating entities combine into a larger, more complex whole? 
What forces bring about major transitions in the evolution of biocomplexity?
CAN 7: University of Colorado
Rock-Powered Life: Revealing Mechanisms of Energy Flow from the Lithosphere to the Biosphere
PI is Alexis Templeton
• Defining the pathways that control how energy is released from ultramafic rocks as 
they react with low-temperature fluids,
• Identifying and interpreting the process rates and ecology in systems undergoing 
water/rock reactions,
• Quantifying the geochemical and mineralogical progression of water/rock reactions 
in the presence and absence of biology,
• Characterizing microbial communities within rock-hosted ecosystems and 
evaluating their metabolic activities,
• Developing and testing predictive models of biological habitability during 
water/rock interaction.
How do the mechanisms of low temperature water/rock reactions control the 
distribution, activity, and biochemistry of life in rock‐hosted systems?
Integrating Research Themes of the NAI
Serpentinizing Systems
(Univ. of Colorado, USC, SETI Inst., JPL, U.C.-Riverside, Univ. of Montana, 
Univ. of Wisconsin, Univ. of Illinois)
Habitable Planetary States, the Evolution of Microbial Life, and their 
Astronomical Biosignatures
(U.C.-Riverside, Univ. of Montana, Univ. of Washington, Univ. of Wisconsin, MIT, SETI Inst., 
JPL, Univ. of Colorado, USC)
Planetary Inventory of Organics and Water, and the Origin of Life
(GSFC, U.C.-Riverside, MIT, Univ. of Illinois, NASA Ames)
Environmental Change and Biosignatures
(SETI Inst., Univ. of Wisconsin, Univ. of Colorado, USC, U.C.-Riverside, MIT, others)
GeoBioCell Applications
(Univ. of Illinois, Univ. of Montana, USC, Univ. of Wisconsin, JPL, Univ. of Colorado, 
U.C.-Riverside, GSFC)
Evolution of Complex Life
(Univ. of Montana, MIT, SETI Inst., U.C.-Riverside, USC, Univ. of Colorado)
International Partners
ASSOCIATE PARTNERS:
✪ Centro de Astrobiología (CAB)
✪ Australian Centre for Astrobiology (ACA)
AFFILIATE PARTNERS:
✪ Astrobiology Society of Britain (ASB)
✪ Canadian Astrobiology Network (CAN)
European Exo/Astrobiology Network Association (EANA)
Helmholtz Alliance: Planetary Evolution and Life
✪ Instituto de Astrobiología Colombia (IAC)
✪ Nordic Network of Astrobiology
✪ Russian Astrobiology Center (RAC)
✪ Société Française d’Exobiologie (SFE)
✪ Sociedad Mexicana de Astrobiologia (SOMA)
✪ UK Centre for Astrobiology (UKCA)
✪ USP Research Unit in Astrobiology
Collaborative Technologies for Astrobiology:
Information Technology Working Group (ITWG)
• Composed of IT enthusiasts from each team 
• Meets virtually once a month
• Share lessons learned and knowledge
• Test hardware, software and integration
• POCs for virtual events
• Provides local training, support, expertise and feedback within the system
• Build organizational structures within NAI to promote an optimal interaction 
between centralization and autonomy
Other NAI Efforts
• Minority Institution Research Support Program (for faculty)
• Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (for postdoctoral scholars)
• The Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research 
in Astrobiology (for graduate students & postdocs)
• Early Career Collaboration Award (for graduate students & 
postdocs)
• Meeting and Workshop Support, Workshops Without Walls
• Education and Public Outreach in Transition…..
An astronomer based at the Adler Planetarium, Walkowicz intends to work on a 
project entitled “Fear of a Green Planet: Inclusive Systems of Thought for 
Human Exploration of Mars.” Her project will create an inclusive framework for 
human exploration of Mars—a vision that encompasses both cutting-edge 
research on Mars as a place of essential astrobiological significance and 
weaves in lessons from the diverse histories of exploration on Earth. In addition 
to studying stellar magnetic activity and the effect on planetary suitability for 
extraterrestrial life at Adler Planetarium, Walkowicz is a TED senior fellow and 
artist.
Lucianne Walkowicz
Oct. 2017 – Sept. 2018
NASA/Library of Congress 
Blumberg Astrobiology Chair
26
QUESTIONS?             
NAI Website
http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai


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