NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI)

Stategic Impacts Workshop Topics

Last Updated: 1/19/2007.

1. Global Earth observations from the Moon as a testbed for exoplanet biosignatures/ Earth Science and Astrobiology from or near the Moon ( Woolf, Mumma, Kasting)
2. Cycling of life-relevant compounds on the Moon (Des Marais, Allamandola, Steele, Pratt)
3. Lunar formation and Earth-Moon impact history/ Search for samples of ancient Earth ( Harrison , Woolf, DePaolo, Runnegar, Woolf)
4. Astrobiotechnology transfer/ Instrument development to survey surface organic material / Instrumentation for Finding Organics ( Glavin , Steele, Mumma, Binstead, Allamendola)
5. Change on Mars:
   Cycling of volatile elements /Cycling of atmospheric trace gases, emphasizing organics and sulfides/ Landform change and aqueous processes ( Mumma , Villanueva, Pratt, Allamandola Mancinelli, Dietrich, DePaolo)
6. Ice and clathrate distribution and its climate record (Mottl, Schorghofer, Pratt, OnstottÖ)
7. Weathering processes and potential biological influences within the critical zone (Brantley, Dietrich,Ö)
8. Put the A back in AFL (Jakosky, Steele, MancinelliÖ)
9. ìFollow the energyî (Des Marais, McCollom, Steele, Allamandola)
10. Orbital sensing of biological processes, includes ground-truthing (Norm Pace and Mitch Sogin)
11. Subsurface life (Jim, Lead and Onstott)
12. Simulated Extraterrestrial Environments (Onstott.)
    • What to look for
    • Addresses planetary protection issues (Johnson)
13. Characterization of life in ice, in hypersaline habitats, and other terrestrial analogues of space mission targets (Jahnke, Fogel and Roden)
14. Biosignatures in ancient (and surface) rocks (Ohmoto and Fogel)
15. Rare biosphere and functional genes (Huber and Teske)
16. Origin of Terrestrial Water & Organics (Meech, Charnley, Harman)
17. Exploiting NASA capabilities to understand the chemistry leading to habitable worlds (Meyer, Young, Bally, Davis, Jura, Nittler)
18. Alternative Habitability (Sigurdsson & Meyer)