NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI)

University of Washington

Executive Summary

Untitled

Project Reports

Bacterial tubulin and the evolution of the Eukaryotic cell; Sea ice bacteria

Building a habitable planet: the geological record

Causes of mass extinctions: testing impact models

Delivery of organic materials to planets

Dynamics of comets, asteroids, and planets

Extraterrestrial Organics

Impacts and extinction

Leigh Project

Microbial Mat Communities

Ocean Surfaces on Snowball Earth

Permian-Triassic Extinction Scientific Drilling Project

Search for impacts at extinction boundaries using 3He

EPO Reports

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. (4 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. (1 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. (4 reports)

Goal 4: Understand how past life on Earth interacted with its changing planetary and Solar System environment

• Objective 4: Expand and interpret the genomic database of a select group of key microorganisms in order to reveal the history and dynamics of evolution. (18 reports)

Goal 5: Understand the evolutionary mechanisms and environmental limits of life

• Objective 5: Describe the sequences of causes and effects associated with the development of Earth's early biosphere and the global environment. (9 reports)

Goal 6: Understand the principles that will shape the future of life, both on Earth and beyond

• Objective 6: Define how ecophysiological processes structure microbial communities, influence their adaptation and evolution, and affect their detection on other planets. (3 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. (1 reports)