NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI)

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Executive Summary

Goddard Center for Astrobiology Annual NAI Report

Project Reports

Accomplishments of Graduate Student William Anderson

Chemical Models of Nebular Processes

Constraints on the Chemical Nature of the Lunar Impact Basin Forming Impactors

Cosmic Ice Laboratory: Organic Synthesis in Energetically Processed Ices

Direct Detection and Characterization of Extrasolar Planets

Instrumentation for the Analysis of Organic Materials in Natural Samples

Large Scale Circulation and Organic Synthesis in the Primitive Solar Nebula

Numerical Simulations of Planetary Dynamics

Origin and Evolution of Organics in Planetary Systems

Origin and Evolution of Organics in Planetary Systems

Progress Report for APL Effort in Goddard Center for Astrobiology

Satellite thermal remote sensing of Boiling Springs Lake in Lassen Volcanic National Park

Studies of Oxidized Carbon in Cometary Ice

Summary of Activities in the Astrobiology Analytical Laboratory

The Evolution of Organics in Space

VLA observations of a hot molecular core in the young stellar object NGC1333 IRAS4A

X-ray emission from young stars and a comet

EPO Reports

Minority Institution Astrobiology Collaborative

Summer Undergraduate Internship in Astrobiology

NASA and The Navajo Nation Sustainability Seminar

NASA Explorer School Institutes - Formal Education Initiative

Astrobiology Workshops for GSFC Education Specialists

Project Reports

Organized by Astrobiology Roadmap Objective

Goal 1: Understand the nature and distribution of habitable environments in the Universe

• Objective 1: Determine whether the atmosphere of the early Earth, hydrothermal or exogenous matter were significant sources of organic matter. (6 reports)

Goal 2: Explore for past or present habitable environments, prebiotic chemistry and signs of life elsewhere in our Solar System

• Objective 2: Develop and test plausible pathways by which ancient counterparts of membrane systems, proteins and nucleic acid were synthesized from simpler precursors and assembled into protocells. (5 reports)

Goal 3: Understand how life originates from cosmic and planetary precursors

• Objective 3: Replicating, catalytic systems capable of evolution, and construct laboratory models of metabolism in primitive living systems. (14 reports)

Goal 7: Determine how to recognize signatures of life on other worlds and on early Earth

• Objective 7: Identify the environmental limits for by examining biological adaptations to extremes in environmental conditions. (3 reports)