NAI
2003 Annual Science Report
Carnegie Institution of Washington
Reporting | JUL 2002 – JUN 2003
Executive Summary
The team led by the Carnegie Institution of Washington is studying the physical, chemical, and biological evolution of hydrothermal systems, including vent complexes associated with ocean ridges, deep aquifers, and other subsurface aqueous environments, both on Earth and on other Solar System and extrasolar bodies. Such diverse systems are important environments for life on Earth and possibly elsewhere in the cosmos.
The traditional view of life’s origin on Earth has focused on processes near the photic zone at the ocean-atmosphere interface, where ionizing radiation provides energy for prebiotic organic synthesis. In the context of astrobiology, this origin paradigm restricts the initial “habitable zone” around stars to planets and moons with surface water. According to this view, subsequent adaptations on Earth, and possibly elsewhere, led to expansion of the biosphere into subsurface habitats.
An alternative hypothesis is that life-forming processes may also occur in subsurface hydrothermal ...
Continue reading.-
Sean Solomon
NAI, ASTEP, ASTID, Exobiology -
TEAM Active Dates:
7/1998 - 10/2003 CAN 1 -
Members:
59 (See All) - Visit Team Page
Project Reports
-
Hydrothermal Organic Synthesis
Over the past year Cody and colleagues have continued their research into hydrothermal protometabolic chemistry.
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 3.1 3.2 4.2 -
Studies of Organic Matter and Water in Meteorites
The mechanisms that produced chondrules and CAIs were important, energetic processes in the early Solar System that would also have led to complex gas-phase chemistry.
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 3.1 3.2 -
Studies in Planetary Formation and Evolution
During the course of the last five years, the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism (DTM) astronomy group has become perhaps the leading group worldwide studying the detection, formation, and evolution of planetary systems, with a special emphasis on systems containing habitable planets.
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 2.1 7.2 -
Theoretical Studies of Hydrothermal Synthesis Reactions
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.2 3.1 3.2 4.2 5.1 5.3 6.1 -
Isotopic and Molecular Tracers of Life
Task 1. Molecular Spectroscopic Investigations into Ancient Biochemistry (Cody, Fogel, Hazen)
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 3.2 4.1 6.1 7.1 7.2 -
Biological Studies of Hydrothermal Systems
Task 1. Field Studies and Laboratory Characterization of Hydrothermal Vent Microbes (Baross)
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1 4.2 5.1 5.3 6.1 7.1 -
A New Molecular Recognition Instrument for Astrobiological Applications
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1 3.1 3.2 4.1 5.1 6.2 7.1
Publications
- There are no publications for this team in the 2003 annual report.
2003 Teams
-
Arizona State University
Carnegie Institution of Washington
Harvard University
Marine Biological Laboratory
Michigan State University
NASA Ames Research Center
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
NASA Johnson Space Center
Pennsylvania State University
Scripps Research Institute
University of California, Los Angeles
University of Colorado, Boulder
University of Rhode Island
University of Washington
Virtual Planetary Laboratory (JPL/CalTech)