NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI)

Welcome to the NAI Newsletter! The Newsletter is a compendium of announcements, events, updates, and news items related to the NAI and its research. If you have news items or suggestions you can send them to the editor, Marco Boldt at: Marco.Boldt@nasa.gov.

NAI News

2009 NAI Director's Discretionary Fund Selections

The NASA Astrobiology Institute is pleased to announce selections for research awards resulting from its 2009 Director’s Discretionary Fund competition. The selections embody a broad range of research topics, from the early habitability of Mars, to the evolution of microbial and more complex life, the origin and nature of meteoritic organics, ecosystem change and evolution, and the limits of life. Approximately $1.2M are allocated toward these awards.

Selections were based on external reviews, with selection priority given to proposals that

• integrate the research of and realize synergies among the current NAI teams;


• expand the scope of NAI research and the NAI community in innovative ways, accepting some risk in return for high pay-off potential;


• respond in a timely way to new scientific results or programmatic opportunities;


• develop connections between astrobiology research and other NASA science programs, particularly NASA’s Earth Science Program;


• directly support flight programs, particularly through instrument development; and/or


• use funding particularly effectively, for example through leveraging or building on past investments.

For more information and a list of selected research projects: http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/funding/the-nai-directors-discretionary-fund/2009/

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10/5 NAI Director's Seminar: Danny Glavin (speaker) and Jason Dworkin, "Southpaw Solar System: L-Amino Acid Excesses in Meteorites and the Implications for the Origin of Homochirality on Earth"

Abstract:
Meteorites provide a record of the chemical processes that occurred in the early solar system before life began on Earth. The delivery of organic matter, including amino acids, by carbonaceous meteorites could have been an important source of the early Earth’s prebiotic organic inventory. The earlier discovery of slight to significant excesses for several indigenous left handed α-methyl amino acids, including isovaline, in the CM2 type carbonaceous meteorites Murchison and Murray by Pizzarello and co-workers could point toward a possible prebiotic contribution to the origin of biological homochirality in life on Earth. In order to expand the search for chiral excess in meteorites, we measured the distribution and handedness of the five-carbon amino acids (including isovaline) in nine CI, CM, and CR type carbonaceous meteorites using a highly sensitive liquid chromatography time of flight mass spectrometry technique. Large excesses of L-isovaline were found in several aqueously altered meteorites, but not in the most primitive unaltered CR2 meteorites. These findings are inconsistent with UV-circularly polarized light as the primary mechanism for L-isovaline enrichment and indicate that amplification of a small initial imbalance occurred during an extended aqueous alteration phase on the meteorite parent bodies. The fact that only L-amino acid excesses have been found in meteorites analyzed so far (no D-excesses) may indicate that the origin of life on Earth and possibly elsewhere in our solar system was biased toward L-amino acids from the very beginning.

For more information and participation instructions: http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/seminars/detail/158

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For Students and Young Investigators

Student Travel Grants - Workshop on Methane on Mars, November 25-27, 2009 in Frascati, Italy

The NASA Mars Program Office has announced that travel funding will be made available for as many as 5 students who are U.S. citizens or legal residents, with Mars-related interests, to attend the Workshop on Methane on Mars: Current Observations, Interpretation and Future Plans, November 25-27, 2009 in Frascati, Italy. An application must be submitted by September 28, 2009, to be considered for this funding. NASA Headquarters will make the selections and students will be notified no later than October 15, 2009. Reimbursable costs include registration fees, transportation (airfare, mileage to/from airport, parking, rental car) and lodging/per diem. In most cases, actual expenses will exceed the funding provided.

See http://www.congrex.nl/09c26/

Note: Students who are depending on travel assistance should not pay the registration fee or make travel arrangements until they have been notified that they have received an award. If you are requesting funds to travel to the meeting from outside the U.S., you should also wait to register until you have successfully completed NASA's foreign travel approval process. Failure to comply with this requirement may prohibit reimbursement.

Travel costs up to $1800.00 will be reimbursed according to JPL/government-specified allowances. For reference, hotel/per diem rates can be found at www.gsa.gov (see per diem).

Eligibility: - Students must be U.S. citizens or legal residents. - Students must be enrolled at a university at the time of the workshop.

Students who want to apply for this assistance must submit the student travel funding application form http://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/Student_Opportunities/studenttravelgrant_methane.doc to charles.j.budney@jpl.nasa.gov by September 28, 2009.

Interested students with questions are encouraged to contact Charles Budney (Mars Program Office, charles.j.budney@jpl.nasa.gov or 818-354-3981).

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For the Astrobiology Community

ROSES-09 Amendment 17: New Due Date, Start Date and Clarification for C.7, Outer Planets Research (OPR) Program

This amendment delays the proposal due date for Appendix C.7, Outer Planets Research (OPR) Program.

The program element in ROSES-2009, Appendix C.7, Outer Planets Research (OPR), solicits proposals for diverse scientific investigations that contribute to the understanding of the outer Solar System, including the giant planets, their satellites, and smaller solid bodies including comets, asteroids, and Kuiper Belt objects. The program includes both data analysis from NASA missions and fundamental research.

Amendment 17 presents a new due date and planning date for start of investigation for C.7, OPR. Proposals are now due December 18, and Table 2 and Table 3 of the Summary of Solicitation for this NRA have been updated to reflect the change in due date. This delay provides additional time for proposers to incorporate findings from panel evaluations from other program elements into their submissions to C.7, Outer Planets Research during a period of increased professional activities for this community, including supporting the Planetary Decadal Survey. The planning date for start of investigation has been changed to November 1, 2010.

In addition to the change in the due date, the text of Appendix C.7 has been clarified to specify that proposals to provide refinement of mission datasets or create data products are included in the requirement to “…describe a complete scientific investigation organized in terms of unresolved scientific questions to be addressed; objectives of the research; lines of inquiry, methodology, and analysis; and conclusions.”

On or about September 4, 2009, this Amendment to the NASA Research Announcement "Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) 2009" (NNH08ZDA001N) will be posted on the NASA research opportunity homepage at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/ (select “Solicitations” then “Open Solicitations” then “NNH08ZDA001N”). You can now subscribe to an RSS feed for amendments, clarifications and corrections to ROSES at http://nasascience.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/grant-solicitations/roses-2009/RSS

Questions concerning OPR may be addressed to Dr. Curt Niebur, Planetary Science Division, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC 20546-0001; Telephone: (202) 358-0390 E-mail: curt.niebur@nasa.gov

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Call for Sessions: Goldschmidt 2010

Goldschmidt 2010
June 13-18, 2010
Knoxville, Tennessee

The conference organizers invite you to propose a session for Goldschmidt 2010. This conference has become the preeminent international geochemistry meeting. Recent events have addressed the following themes: Early Earth, from mantle to microbes; Biogeochemistry; Building a habitable planet; Evolution of Earth’s surface environment; Life at the Edge; and Biogeochemical activity and biosignatures. International participants dominate Goldschmidt conferences and create valuable opportunities to network across the globe and to explore linkages between astrobiology and the related biological, earth and planetary sciences.

The Goldschmidt 2010 organizing committee has identified twenty theme areas and is now accepting proposals for sessions within the themes. Theme #1 is entitled, “Planetary Evolution and Astrobiology,” led by David Des Marais and Malcolm Walter. Any session topic that addresses ongoing research in astrobiology and related space missions is welcome.

The themes for Goldschmidt 2010 can be viewed at the meeting’s website:

http://www.goldschmidt2010.org/themes

If you would like to convene a session at Goldschmidt 2010 in Knoxville, please submit your suggestion through the web site:

http://www.goldschmidt2010.org/sessionSuggestion

If you have any questions about suitability or overlap with existing sessions, please contact Des Marais and Walter or any other appropriate theme leaders.

This call for sessions closes October 18, 2009.

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SALMON AO Amendment 3: Re-release of a Solicitation for Small Complete Missions of Opportunity in Astrobiology and Fundamental Space Biology

NNH08ZDA009O-SCMAFSB
Release Date: September 30, 2009
Notice of Intent to propose Due: October 28, 2009
Proposals Due: December 18, 2009

With this amendment, the NASA Announcement of Opportunity NNH08ZDA009O, "Stand Alone Missions of Opportunity Notice (SALMON)," is amended to establish a new proposal due date for proposals submitted in response to Program Element Appendix (PEA) H3: Small Complete Missions of Opportunity in Astrobiology and Fundamental Space Biology. This PEA has been extensively modified from the previously released version and the new version replaces the old version in its entirety.

This PEA solicits proposals for small complete missions in astrobiology or in fundamental space biology. Astrobiology is the study of the origins, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the Universe. Fundamental space biology is the study of how living systems from cells to complex organisms respond and adapt to gravity and space environments. A proposal for a small complete mission is one in which the proposer describes a complete and self-contained investigation (e.g., spacecraft, payload, launch, mission operation, spacecraft communications and navigation, data analysis and data archiving, etc.) that fulfills the solicited objectives and includes all of the elements specified in the solicitation.

Proposals are solicited in any of three different mission formats, each of which requires the proposer to describe and account for all aspects of the proposed investigation. The different mission formats allow for the incorporation of a range of Government contributions offered by the Ames Research Center Small Spacecraft Division (ARC SSD) to best ensure the execution of PI-proposed science investigations. These mission formats, which are described fully in the solicitation, are PI science only (investigators may propose to utilize existing hardware with to perform the desired experiment), Teaming (investigators may propose to work cooperatively with the ARC SSD, during a short Phase A study, to modify and further develop existing hardware), and PI-supplied hardware (investigators may propose to provide a completed satellite for launch). Information on available hardware, related past and current mission information, and an estimated mission budget breakdown including the costs for hardware and services provided by ARC SSD, are included in a program information package available to all proposers. Proposed investigations are cost capped, with cost caps dependent on the science objective selected (astrobiology or fundamental space biology) or the mission format selected (PI science only, Teaming, or PI-supplied hardware); the cost caps are provided in the solicitation and are range between $400K and $1450K for the science experiment development and between $1.5M and $2.0M for the total mission.

On or about September 30, 2009, Amendment No. 3 to the NASA Announcement of Opportunity "Stand Alone Missions of Opportunity Notice (SALMON)" (NNH08ZDA009O) will be posted on the NASA research opportunity homepage at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/ (select "Solicitations" then "Open Solicitations" then "NNH08ZDA009O").

Technical or scientific questions concerning Small Complete Missions in Astrobiology may be addressed to Dr. Catharine A. Conley, Planetary Science Division, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC 20546-0001; Tel: 202-358-3912; E-mail: Cassie.Conley@nasa.gov.

Technical or scientific questions concerning Small Complete Missions in Fundamental Space Biology may be addressed to Dr. David L. Tomko, Advanced Capabilities Division, Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC 20546-0001; Tel: 202-358-2211 ; E-mail: dtomko@nasa.gov.

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AbSciCon 2010: Session Topic Proposal Deadline Extended

The deadline for proposing Session Topics to AbSciCon 2010 has been extended until September 30. The organizing committee is soliciting community input for session topics. Suggestions will be reviewed by the organizing committee, and the approved list of session topics will appear in the second announcement along with the call for abstracts.

The announcement of Session Topics, along with instruction for submitting abstracts, will be online by October 14.

The Abstract deadline remains December 1.

For more information: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/abscicon2010/abscicon2010.topics.shtml

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