NAI
2005 Annual Science Report
Marine Biological Laboratory
Reporting | JUL 2004 – JUN 2005
Executive Summary
The relevance of microbes to NASA’s exploration program.
The stage for life was set billions of years ago and we are on the verge of knowing what happened to its characters. Two convergent lines of evidence raise expectations that biological systems could occur beyond the confines of Earth. The first is the detection of microbial life forms in terrestrial environments that may be similar to those on other solar system bodies. The second is NASA’s spectacular discoveries of significant water reservoirs on Mars and Europa, and evidence of liquid organic environments on other solar system bodies such as Titan. Knowledge about the diversity and evolution of life on Earth will provide important inputs for the design of future astrobiology missions in NASA’s exploration program.
During the initial 2-3 billion years of Earth’s history, the only form of life was microbial and it generally consisted of ... Continue reading.
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Mitchell Sogin
NAI, ASTEP, ASTID, Exobiology -
TEAM Active Dates:
11/2003 - 10/2008 CAN 3 -
Members:
49 (See All) - Visit Team Page
Project Reports
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Recognition of Theoretical Environments on Mars
The diverse iron and sulfate mineralogy, and its associated complex biology, at Rio Tinto is an analog for possible environments on Mars
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1 7.1 -
Iron Oxidation – Shaping the Past and Present Environments
The biology of Iron Oxidation
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1 5.1 5.3 6.1 -
Microbial Diversity and Population Structure Studies in the Rio Tinto
Our population studies in the Rio Tinto focus on three stations located in the more extreme headwaters of the river: the Origin (OR), Anabel’s Garden (AG) and Berrocal (BE) (Fig. 1). For each station we sampled three different sites with three-fold replication during the wet and dry seasons.
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 3.3 5.1 5.2 -
Microbial Communities and Activities in the Deep Marine Subsurface
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1 5.1 5.3 6.1 6.2 -
Searching for Ancestral Biosignatures
Our major objective and one of the objectives of the Astrobiology roadmap is “Biosignatures to be sought in Solar System materials search for signs of life in the Solar System and beyond”. We are developing techniques which can be used for direct in situ measurements on future missions.
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 7.1 7.2 -
Genome-Genome Integration: Symbiosis, Genetic Assimilation, and Evolutionary Innovation
This project aims to elucidate genetic changes that catalyze the establishment and diversification of genome-genome interactions.
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 3.4 4.2 5.2 6.2 -
The Evolution and Diversity of Ancient CO2-fixation Pathways in Anaerobic and Extremophilic Microorganisms: Clues to the Early Evolution of Life on Earth
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1 5.1 5.3
Publications
- There are no publications for this team in the 2005 annual report.
2005 Teams
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Carnegie Institution of Washington
Indiana University, Bloomington
Marine Biological Laboratory
Michigan State University
NASA Ames Research Center
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Pennsylvania State University
SETI Institute
University of Arizona
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Los Angeles
University of Colorado, Boulder
University of Hawaii, Manoa
University of Rhode Island
University of Washington
Virtual Planetary Laboratory (JPL/CalTech)