NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI)

Indiana University, Bloomington

Executive Summary

Biosustaining Energy in the Subsurface of Earth and Mars

Project Reports

Abiotic Experiments & Hydrocarbon Yielding Water/Mineral Reactions

Construction of a borehole apparatus for sampling of fluids and microbes in sub-permafrost groundwater, Nunavut Territory, Canada

Design and Assembly of a Cavity-Ring Down Spectrometer for determination of concentration and isotopic composition of methane in gases

Drilling a borehole for sampling of gases, water, and microbes in sub-permafrost groundwater at High Lake, Nunavut Territory, Canada

Evolution of abiotic environments to ecosystems

Experimental Study of Radiolytic Oxidation of Pyrite as a source of sulfate and hydrogen to sustain microbial metabolism

Laser fluorometry for remote detection of oxygenic phototrophs on Earth and, potentially, on Mars

Retentostat Studies of Subsurface Sulfate Reducing Bacterium

Saline Lakes and Gypsum Dunes in the Rio Grande Rift System as Analogues for Sulfate Deposits on Mars

Simulating Preservation of Amino Acids and Peptides in Evaporitic Sulfate Deposits on the Surface of Mars

Stability of methane hydrates in the presence of high salinity brines on Mars

Survival capability of a cold-loving microbe in a Mars simulation chamber

EPO Reports

IPTAI Education and Public Outreach Efforts, 2006-2007: Public Lectures, Media Interviews for Magazines, Newspapers, Radio and Internet Broadcasts

Exploring Deep-Subsurface Life. Earth Analogues for Possible Life on Mars: Lessons and Activities

IPTAI Education and Public Outreach Efforts, 2006-2007: Teacher Workshops

Project Reports

Organized by Astrobiology Roadmap Objective

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. (16 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. (8 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. (1 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. (18 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. (10 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. (14 reports)