NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  1. Content with the tag: “origins of life

    Understand how life emerges from cosmic and planetary precursors. Perform observational, experimental and theoretical investigations to understand the general physical and chemical principles underlying the origins of life.

  2. A search for primordial water from deep in the Earth's mantle

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1, 4

    A Self-Perpetuating Catalyst for the Production of Organics in Protostellar Nebulae

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1, 3

    Acquisition and Installation of a new Cameca ims 1280 ion microprobe

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES:

    Advancing Techniques for in situ Analysis of Complex Organics

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2, 2, 3, 3, 7

    Application of U-tube and fiber-optic distributed temperature sensor to characterize the chemical and physical properties of a deep permafrost and sub-permafrost environment at High Lake, Nunavut, Canada.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2, 5, 5, 7

    Astrobiology Sample Analysis Program (ASAP)

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES:

    Biological potential of Mars

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2, 3

    Biosignatures in chemosynthetic and photosynthetic systems

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7

    Breakdown of methane due to electric discharge: A Laboratory Investigation with Relevance to Mars

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2

    Chemical Models of Nebular Processes

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1

    Composition of Parent Volatiles in Comets: Oxidized Carbon

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES:

    Current Status and Future Bioastronomy with the Large Millimeter Telescope

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 3

    Early Metabolic Pathways

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2, 3

    Early Metabolic Pathways

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 3, 3

    Fingerprinting Late Additions to the Earth and Moon via the Study of Highly Siderophile Elements in Lunar Impact Melt Rocks

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1

    Formation and Detection of Hot-Earth Objects in Systems with Close-in Jupiters

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1, 1

    Formation of Planetesimals in a Dynamically Evolving Nebula

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1

    Genes that regulate photosymbiotic relationships

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2

    Habitable Planets

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1, 1, 2, 4

    Icelandic subglacial lakes

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2, 4, 5, 6

    Interplanetary Pioneers

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 5, 6

    Microbial Communities and Activities in the Deep Marine Subsurface

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 5, 5, 6, 6

    Modeling grain surface reaction pathways for large organic molecules

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 3

    Organic and Inorganic Acids from Ion-irradiated Ices

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2, 3, 7

    Origin and Evolution of Organics

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1, 2, 3

    Origin and Evolution of Organics in Planetary Systems

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1, 3, 3

    Origin of Irregular Satellites

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1

    Prebiotic Organics from Space

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 7, 7

    Protist diversity in extreme environments

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 6, 7

    Recovery of comet 85P/Boethin for the Deep Impact Extended Mission

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2

    Research Activities in the Astrobiology Analytical Laboratory

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1, 2, 2, 3, 7

    Sediment-buried basement deep biosphere

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6

    Societal and Philosophical Aspects of Astrobiology

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 18

    Studies in Planetary Formation and Evolution

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 8, 9, 11, 12

    Studies of Organic Matter and Water in Meteorites

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1, 8, 9, 11

    The Main Belt distribution of basaltic asteroids

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2

    THE VYSOS PROJECT

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1

    Ultra-violet processing of ices in the Rosette Nebula

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 3

    Understanding the Microbial Ecology of Geologically-based Chemolithoautotrophic Communities

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2, 4

    Sulfur and Phosphorus Cosmochemistry: Implications

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 7
  3. Comets May Give Life a Hand


    A comet hitting Earth would seem to bring only death and destruction, but one group is studying how such an impact could promote certain necessary chemical steps in the origin of life. The researchers are focusing on how comet collisions might have influenced the molecular orientation, or handedness, of our planet’s biology.

    Source: [astrobio.net]

    Tags , , ,
    Comments No comments yet, you could be the first.
  4. Alien Safari Part 6: Generations


    At the most recent NASA Astrobiology Science Conference, a panel of scientists discussed different types of planets where we might find alien life. In part six of this series, the panelists answer audience questions about the origin and evolution of life elsewhere.

    Source: [Astrobiology Magazine]

    Tags , , , , ,
    Comments No comments yet, you could be the first.
  5. Seafloor Microbes Abundant and Thriving....An Alternative Cradle for Life?


    Credit: Nicolle Rager-Fuller/National Science Foundation

    Researchers from NAI’s Marine Biological Laboratory Team continue their study of the deep biosphere, reporting the latest results in this week’s Nature. This new study reveals that bacterial communities dwelling on ocean-bottom rocks are more abundant and diverse than previously thought, especially relative to the overlying water column. The microbes appear to “feed” on the oceanic crust through seawater–rock alteration reactions involving the oxidation and hydration of glassy basalt.

    Astrobiologists hypothesize that shallow water, not deep water, may have cradled...

    Read More

    Tags , , , ,
    Comments No comments yet, you could be the first.
  6. Meteorites a Rich Source for Primordial Soup


    Primordial Soup

    Scientists from NAI’s Carnegie Institution of Washington Team have a new paper in Meteoritics and Planetary Science detailing their discovery of amino acids in two meteorites at concentrations ten times higher than levels previously measured in other similar meteorites. The result suggests that the early solar system was far richer in the organic building blocks of life than scientists had thought, and that fallout from space may have spiked Earth’s primordial broth. Click here to download the paper.

    Tags , , ,
    Comments No comments yet, you could be the first.
  7. Biologists Surprised To Find Parochial Bacterial Viruses


    Biologists examining ecosystems similar to those that existed on Earth more than 3 billion years ago have made a surprising discovery: Viruses that infect bacteria are sometimes parochial and unrelated to their relatives in other parts of the globe.

    Source: [Link]

    Tags ,
    Comments No comments yet, you could be the first.
  8. Mars Science Laboratory Shakedown in the High Arctic


    Members of the AMASE team (AMASE stands for Arctic Mars Analog Svalbard Expedition) last month completed their fourth field season on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen. They went to test out instruments similar to those that will fly on an upcoming mission to Mars, and to perform a field test of a prototype rover, Cliff-bot, that is capable of climbing up and down 80-degree slopes.

    Spitsbergen is the largest island in the Norwegian Svalbard archipelago, which lies between the northern tip of Norway and the northern polar ice cap. It is an inviting destination for astrobiology researchers because...

    Read More

    Tags , , , ,
    Comments No comments yet, you could be the first.
  9. NASA Astrobiologists Elected to National Academy of Sciences


    Congratulations are due to astrobiologists Donald E. Canfield and Paul G. Falkowski for their election to the distinguished ranks of membership in the National Academy of Sciences.

    Read More

    Tags , , , , ,
    Comments Commenting has been closed.
  10. Biodiversity Rocks the Cover of Nature


    The cover of this week’s Nature belongs to Abigail Allwood of the Australian Centre for Astrobiology, one of NAI’s International Partners. She and her colleagues put forward the latest research on the ancient rocks of the Pilbara Craton in Western Australia, which points to evidence of life on Earth 3.43 billion years ago. Their description of a shallow marine environment, and identification of seven stromatolite morphotypes makes a strong argument for early life. NAI supported Allwood’s work with a 2005 NAI Research Scholarship.

    Source: [Link]

    Tags , , ,
    Comments Commenting has been closed.
  11. Astrobiology: The Study of the Living Universe


    Christopher Chyba and Kevin Hand of the NAI’s SETI Institute Lead Team have just published this article in the Annual Reviews of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ARAA). It reviews the habitability of the Galaxy in general and of planets and moons in particular, and summarizes current controversies in origins-of-life research and in evidence for the earliest life on Earth. It critiques certain “rare Earth” and “anthropic” arguments, and considers four approaches to deciding whether intelligent life exists elsewhere in the Galaxy. It concludes that astrobiology must also speak to the future of human civilization.

    Source: [Link]

    Tags , ,
    Comments Commenting has been closed.
  12. Scientists Find Clues That Life Began in Deep Space


    Duplicating the harsh conditions of space in their laboratory, NASA scientists have created primitive cells with membrane-like structures. These chemical compounds may have played a part in the origin of life.

    Read More

    Tags , ,
    Comments Commenting has been closed.
  13. Without Jupiter, Home Alone


    The giant planet Jupiter swallows up asteroids and comets, or flings them into space. Without Jupiter, comet and asteroid impacts might have wiped out any life on Earth.

    Read More

    Tags , ,
    Comments Commenting has been closed.
  14. Astrobiologists Find Evidence of Early Life on Land


    Scientists with NASA’s Astrobiology Institute have discovered evidence that microbial life emerged on land between 2.6 billion and 2.7 billion years ago, much earlier than previously thought.

    Read More

    Tags , ,
    Comments Commenting has been closed.
  15. Pyruving the Origin of Life


    For the origin of life, chemical synthesis of pyruvic acid is a critical step. In a difficult experiment, Carnegie Institute/NAI researchers report that the natural synthesis of such compounds would occur wherever hot ocean vents pass through iron sulfide-containing crust.

    Read More

    Tags , , ,
    Comments Commenting has been closed.
  16. Life Under Bombardment


    Does Greenland give a clue as to whether life was seeded twice: ‘stock’ cultures surviving one big impact event? Life Under Bombardment looks for the evidence of our terrestrial past.

    Read More

    Tags , , ,
    Comments Commenting has been closed.
  17. Leonid Meteors Yield Rich Astrobiology Research Results


    In search of meteor showers, an airborne research mission indicates that the chemical precursors to life found in comet dust may well have survived a plunge into early Earth’s atmosphere.

    Read More

    Tags , , , ,
    Comments Commenting has been closed.
Tags