NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI)

Yellowstone National Park offers the Public a Portal to Astrobiology: Life Through Space and Time

The NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI), Yellowstone National Park and Lockheed Martin Space Operations have developed a strong and effective partnership that supports scientists and engages Park visitors in the experience of exploration and scientific discovery. The thermal springs in Yellowstone National Park are key research targets for NASA?s astrobiology program. The microscopic organisms, called thermophiles, that inhabit the boiling waters of these springs are the primary focus of this research. Microorganisms have inhabited thermal springs for billions of years and therefore provide key insights about Earth?s early biosphere. Space exploration has revealed many similarities between the early histories and environments of Mars and Earth. These discoveries raise the possibility that our own early biosphere might have had a counterpart on Mars.
WAYSIDE EXHIBITS 2006
The NASA Ames Research Center Team of the NAI, the NAI Director?s office and Lockheed Martin contributed funds to develop Wayside Exhibits (trailside signs) for Yellowstone. These exhibits were developed in accordance with Yellowstone National Park?s Long Range Interpretive Plan. The Division of Interpretation (DOI) at Yellowstone National Park collaborated with Ames Team of the NAI to design and develop nine signs. These signs explain that the park?s hydrothermal features are actually extreme habitats for amazing life forms that help us to understand our own early biosphere and that provide clues to guide the search for life on other planets. The DOI staff and NASA Ames Team of the NAI agreed upon the selection of sites that would best illustrate key themes in astrobiology and microbiology. The exhibits are located park-wide, yet each sign is site specific and interprets features that are immediately visible and compelling to the visitor in each spectacular setting.
The Wayside Exhibits opened to the public after their installation was completed prior to the summer of 2006. More than three million visitors of all ages from United States and overseas now experience these signs in the context of the diverse environments of Yellowstone. As they begin to comprehend how Yellowstone?s biological and geological resources are intimately linked, park visitors develop a profound appreciation of why Yellowstone must be preserved in its pristine state and how its features can guide our quest to understand the distribution and nature of life across vast expanses of space and time.
WAYSIDE EXHIBIT TITLES AND CONTENT
?Travertine Occupants? and ?Living Color? signs address the kinds of thermophiles that live in Mammoth Hot Springs and that create fossils in the travertine. Perhaps ancient Martian spring deposits also preserved microbial fossils.
?Roaring Mountain: Living Landscape and ?Fumaroles? signs describe the sulfurous fumaroles and their acid-loving thermophiles that help to disintegrate the rock. The Mars Exploration Rover mission has found evidence that acidic solutions have weathered rocks on Mars.
?Living Thermometer? introduces the thermophiles in Norris Geyser Basin whose colors can vary across a range of temperatures. Iron minerals contribute to the striking reddish hues and are reminiscent of iron-pigmented Martian deposits.
?Buried Alive? at Excelsior Geyser discusses the microbial fossil remains in the siliceous sinter and indicate that siliceous Martian deposits might also preserve similar evidence.
?Making Mud? at Fountain Paint Pot describes how hydrothermal activity can create mud pots and also sustain microbial life. Perhaps some of the clay-like deposits discovered recently by orbiting spacecraft indicate that processes similar to those at Yellowstone once occurred on Mars.
?Life on the Edge? and ?Prism of Light, Spectrum of Light? signs describe Grand Prismatic spring and the miniature ?microbial forests? that create the vibrant colors on its flanks.
References and sources for the Thermophile Exhibits are available at: www.windowsintowonderland.com