Astrobiology and Exobiology at NASA Ames Research Center
Astrobiology and Exobiology at NASA Ames Research Center M Ditzler (SSX) B Bebout (SSX), C Everroad (SSX), C Materese (SSA), K Zahnle (SST) Leveraging the facilities, capabilities and multidisciplinary talent unique to NASA Ames for the advancement of knowledge about the origins, evolution, and distribution of life in the Solar System and beyond. 1
White Paper Goals and Objectives I • Goal – Understand abiotic formation of biomolecules in extraterrestrial environments • How are potentially prebiotic molecules (e. g. amphiphiles, sugars, and N-heterocycles) formed and transformed under astrophysical conditions? • How are abiotically produced biomolecules transported to telluric planets? • Goal – Connect prebiotic chemistry to early evolution • How can the prebiotic production and transformation of metabolites lead to the origin of metabolism? • What is the role of macromolecules (proteins, RNA, and potential pre-biotic alternatives) in early evolution? • How can the various prebiotic molecules function together as a system to support open-ended evolution? 2
White Paper Goals and Objectives II • Goal – Understand the causes and effects of biological complexity • How has biological innovation facilitated planetary change and expanded habitability? • How do physical controls affect biological processes, interactions, and biological and geochemical dynamics? • Goal – Define and search for habitable environments and biosignatures in the Solar System • What are the physical constraints on limits of habitability and life? How are biosignatures produced and preserved? • How can we interpret lipid biomarkers and stable isotopic patterns? • What are the mineralogical and sedimentary indicators of ancient habitable environments? 3
White Paper Milestones – Years 1 & 3 -5 • Milestones – Year 1 • Continue to improve and expand library of compounds known to form under astrophysical conditions • Demonstrate potential of methods that support systemslevel approaches to prebiotic evolution • Explore early-Earth and other habitable conditions using culture, natural systems, and modeling approaches • Milestones Years 3 -5 • Generation of models for the distribution of bio-relevant compounds in star systems based on lab data • Apply systems-level approaches to understand key interactions in prebiotic evolution • Theoretical and empirical limits of life (e. g. water, energy, redox, radiation); integration of biological and geological data over evolutionary time 4
White Paper Milestones – Years 5 -10, Core Capabilities • Milestones Years 5 -10 • Models for how exogenously derived building blocks interacted on Earth (or elsewhere) with each other and with their environments to lead to life • Metabolic and bioenergetic models of life at the limit; integration of model, field, culture and physical data to define habitability and targets for biosignatures • Core Capabilities in Science and Technology • Strategic hires (laboratory astrochemistry, prebiotic chemistry, ecosystem modeling, bioinformatics) to maintain the breadth and depth of knowledge at Ames that spans the interdisciplinary field of Astrobiology, and fill gaps • Astrobiology-dedicated equipment and facilities (analytic spectroscopy, culture collection, environmental simulators) 5
Alignment to NASA Goals, Future Missions • Benefit to and alignment with NASA Goals: • Ames Core competencies: “Space Science” and “Astrobiology and Life Science” • NASA goals: “Ascertain the content, origin, and evolution of the solar system and the potential for life elsewhere, ” and “discover how the universe works, explore how it began and evolved, and search for life on planets around other stars” • 2015 Astrobiology Strategy • In support of relevant NASA missions: • Addresses urgent topics in fundamental astrobiology • Supports and guides current, future, and proposed missions and fundamental research including COLDTech, Europa Clipper, PSTAR, OSIRIS-REx, SOFIA, JWST, CORSAIR, Hayabusa 2, ISS, future Discovery missions 6
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