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2004 Annual Science Report

NASA Ames Research Center Reporting  |  JUL 2003 – JUN 2004

Executive Summary

LINKING OUR ORIGINS TO OUR FUTURE


The Ames Research Center team maintains complementary lines of investigation designed to understand the context for habitable environments and life, the origins of life and its impact on the planetary environment, and the future of life in changing environments. The research addresses all seven goals of the new Astrobiology Roadmap and is formulated to address specific near-term objectives of the Roadmap in ways that link these objectives to flight missions and that also help to unify astrobiology. The Ames team conveys the content of its research program into its education and public outreach program through partnerships with the California Academy of Sciences (CAS), Yellowstone National Park (YNP), New York Hall of Science, and several K-14 educational organizations. Strong conceptual and functional links to multiple NASA missions provide context, motivation, and resource-sharing opportunities for both the research and the education ... Continue reading.

Field Sites
32 Institutions
7 Project Reports
0 Publications
0 Field Sites
Roadmap
Objectives

Project Reports

  • Ecosystem to Biosphere Modeling

    We refined the model of hypersaline mats Microbial BioGeoChemistry (MBGC). Working towards publication of the first version of the model (submitted May), we adopted many improvements into the model, or researched them as future adaptations.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1 5.3 6.1 7.2
  • Biosignatures in Chemosynthetic and Photosynthetic Systems
    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1 4.1 5.1 5.2 6.1 7.1 7.2
  • Early Metabolic Pathways
    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 3.2 3.4
  • Habitable Planets
    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 4.3
  • Hindcasting Ecosystems

    Using results from the previously NAI-funded study, we are developing a predictive Paleo-Net Primary Productivity model for South America (D’Antoni & Skiles 2004). The model is based on the remote sensing/ecology tradition lastly enumerated by Nemani et al. (2003) and the logic used by Monteith (1981) and Running (1990). For calibration and reference purposes we use the output of the NASA-CASA model (Potter et al. 2003) for 41 sites in South America

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 6.1
  • Interplanetary Pioneers
    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 5.3 6.2
  • Prebiotic Organics From Space
    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 3.1 3.4 4.3 7.1 7.2

Publications

  • There are no publications for this team in the 2004 annual report.

2004 Teams