2007 Annual Science Report
Astrobiology Roadmap Objective 1.1 Reports Reporting | JUL 2006 – JUN 2007
Roadmap Objective 1.1—Models of formation and evolution of habitable planets
Project Reports
-
Project 1. From Molecular Clouds to Habitable Planetary Systems
Building on results described in last year’s report, Co-investigator John Chambers’s work this year has focused on models for the growth of planets in the presence of planetary migration. Inward migration of planetary orbits is widely believed to be an important process, but it is neglected in most studies of planet formation due to doubts about whether planets would survive.
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 2.1 3.1 7.2 -
Biological Potential of Mars
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 -
Planetary Biology, Evolution, and Intelligence
The results of a two and a half day workshop on the topic of the Habitability of Planets Orbiting M Stars was published recently. Thirty scientists from nineteen institutions in the US and UK participated. Thirteen of the participants were from six other NAI Teams
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 2.1 2.2 3.1 3.2 4.1 4.2 5.1 5.2 5.3 6.1 6.2 7.1 7.2 -
Formation and Evolution of Habitable Planets
The main focus of our research has dealt with the formation and evolution of
potentially habitable planets in a variety of astronomical settings. In the
past year, we have extended previous models of terrestrial planet growth in
several new directions.ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 -
Project 2. Extraterrestrial Materials: Origin and Evolution of Organic Matter and Water in the Solar System
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 3.1 -
Evolution of a Habitable Planet (Brantley)
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 -
Module 2: Formation and Evolution of Habitable Worlds
Current ideas concerning the origin of life require both complex organic chemistry capable of extracting energy from the environment through metabolic processes, and environments such as planets conducive to reproductive strategies that promote evolution.
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 4.3 -
Assessing the Likelihood of Supernova Impact of Protoplanetary Disks
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 -
Early Oceans on Mars
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 -
Evolution of Atmospheric O2, Climate, and Biosphere (Ohmoto)
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 4.1 4.3 5.1 5.2 6.1 7.1 -
Module 3: Nature of Planetary Systems
Module 3: the Nature of Planetary Systems focuses on the direct detection and characterization of extrasolar planetary systems.
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 -
Habitable Planets
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 2.1 4.1 4.3 -
Evolution of the Interior and Its Consequences for Water on Mars
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 -
Investigations of the Birth of Stars and Planets
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 -
Chemical Models of Nebular Processes
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 -
History and Evolution of Surface Water on Mars
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 2.2 -
Prebiotic Organics From Space
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 3.1 3.4 4.3 7.1 7.2 -
Chondritic Meteorites as Records of Aqueous Activity on Asteroidal Parent Bodies
The Fe-content in amoeboid olivine aggregates (AOAs) is a sensitive indicator of parent body hydrothermal alteration (Komatsu et al. 2001; Chizmadia et al. 2002; Krot et al. 2004). Initially, AOA are composed dominantly of forsteritic olivine (Mg2SiO4) with minor amounts of diopsitic pyroxene (CaMgSi2O6) and anorthitic plagioclase (CaAl2Si2O8).
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 -
Interaction Between the Atmosphere and Water on Mars
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 -
Fingerprinting Late Additions to the Earth and Moon via the Study of Highly Siderophile Elements in Lunar Impact Melt Rocks
The purpose of this work is to fingerprint late additions to the Moon (and presumably the Earth) using the relative abundances of highly-siderophile elements (HSE) that occur in generally high abundance in likely impactors, but in extremely low abundance in the indigenous lunar crust. Towards this end, numerous sub-samples of each of 4 rocks were analyzed this year.
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 -
Re-Tracing Steps Towards a Habitable World: The Biogeochemical Evolution of Sulfur on the Early Earth.
In the last year, we have reported work on the origin of the crust from analysis of rare isotopes in Hadean zircons from Western Australia, established the ages of the oldest and best preserved sediments in Canada at Inukjuak (Quebec) and completed our analysis of multiple sulfur isotopes from the transition from an oxygen-poor to oxygen-rich surface across the Paleoproterozoic.
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 4.1 4.2 5.1 5.2 6.1 -
PSARC: Evolution of a Habitable Planet
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 -
The Impact of Atmospheric Particles on Life
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 2.2 4.3 -
Rise of Oxygen, Modern Analogs for Anoxic Oceans, and Effect of Early Life on Soil Development
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 4.1 4.3 6.1 7.1 7.2 -
Landforms Made by Groundwater Discharge on Mars and Earth
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 -
Formation and Detection of Hot-Earth Objects in Systems With Close-In Jupiters
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 -
Origin and Evolution of Organics
This research is part of the NASA Goddard Astrobiology Node. Our outgassing models predict the composition of first-formed atmospheres on the Earth and other rocky planets in our own and other solar systems formed from chondritic material. Chondritic material forms in any protoplanetary disk with solar or near-solar composition.
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 3.1 3.2 -
Origin and Evolution of Organics in Planetary Systems
As part of the overall Astrobiology Node at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, whose goal is an understanding of the Origin and Evolution of Organics in Planetary Systems (Mike Mumma, P. I.), Co-Investigator Blake is directing both laboratory and astronomical spectroscopy programs.
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 3.1 -
Formation of Planetesimals in a Dynamically Evolving Nebula
The formation of planetesimals is one of the main unresolved issues of planetary science. Traditionally it is assumed that km-sized objects are formed through collision and growth of cm-sized bodies.
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 -
Habitability and Water Delivery in Binary-Planetary Systems
In the last year, Haghighipour completed a systematic study of the formation of habitable planets in the habitable zone of binary-planetary systems. The motivation behind this study comes from the fact that among more than 230 extrasolar planets discovered to-date, approximately 25% are within binary star systems.
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 -
Summary of Activities in the Astrobiology Analytical Laboratory
Dworkin and collaborators have been active in the lab section of the GCA Astrobiology Team by operating the Astrobiology Analytical Laboratory and collaborating with numerous other laboratories. This involves the creation and maintenance of a world-class organic analytical laboratory. His lab was largely created with GCA funds, and Dworkin leveraged them by obtaining internal GSFC funds sufficient to double its space and equipment.
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 2.2 3.1 7.1 -
Synthesis of Complex Organics on Natural Grain Analogs
In this reporting year, we conducted a systematic study of amorphous iron silicate smokes as catalysts for producing complex hydrocarbons in the proto-planetary disk by simultaneous Fischer-Tropsch/Haber-Bosch reactions, e.g., CO + N2 + H2 => complex hydrocarbons and water (Figure 1).
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 3.1 -
Towards a Cometary Taxonomy Based on Organic Composition
This research is targeted on building a new taxonomy for comets based on their parent volatile compositions, especially organics. This taxonomy is crucial for understanding the role of each taxonomic group in delivering prebiotic organics and water to early Earth. During this reporting period, we identified the first comet of Kuiper belt origin belonging to the “organics-depleted” class (joining two Oort cloud comets of similar composition).
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 3.1 4.1 4.3 -
Subseafloor Basement (Basalt) Biosphere Studies
Low temperature hydrothermal ocean fluids (<100°C), circulate everywhere within the porous and permeable volcanic rocks of the upper ocean basement, providing temperatures and chemical gradients that form plausible habitats for a variety of microbial communities. However, few direct tests have been carried out in buried basement rocks or fluids.
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 3.3 4.1 5.1 5.2 5.3 6.1 6.2