NAI
2002 Annual Science Report
University of Rhode Island
Reporting | JUL 2001 – JUN 2002
Executive Summary
Life is abundant in Earth’s atmosphere, on its surface, and in its seas — that is, in the biosphere. But scientists are revising and expanding their ideas about the ubiquitousness of Earth’s living organisms. Their research has shown that life goes on in what may constitute another biosphere, one in which organisms (collectively called extremophiles) are able to live and thrive in a superhot, superpressure, eternally dark underworld that exists far below deep-ocean bottoms. This subterranean community is known to exist to depths of at least a half mile below the seafloor, and there are estimates that it might account for as much as one-tenth to one-third of Earth’s living biomass.
The study of subsurface life is the principal focus of the NASA Astrobiology Institute’s University of Rhode Island (URI) team. Sediments deep beneath the seafloor constitute the team’s primary field area. The team’s objectives ... Continue reading.
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Steven D'Hondt
NAI, ASTEP, ASTID, Exobiology -
TEAM Active Dates:
7/2001 - 6/2006 CAN 2 -
Members:
10 (See All) - Visit Team Page
Project Reports
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Subsurface Biospheres
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 6.0 7.0
Publications
- There are no publications for this team in the 2002 annual report.
2002 Teams
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Arizona State University
Carnegie Institution of Washington
Harvard University
Marine Biological Laboratory
Michigan State University
NASA Ames Research Center
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
NASA Johnson Space Center
Pennsylvania State University
Scripps Research Institute
University of California, Los Angeles
University of Colorado, Boulder
University of Rhode Island
University of Washington
Virtual Planetary Laboratory (JPL/CalTech)