Notice: This is an archived and unmaintained page. For current information, please browse astrobiology.nasa.gov.

2008 Annual Science Report

Astrobiology Roadmap Objective 1.1 Reports Reporting  |  JUL 2007 – JUN 2008

Project Reports

  • 1. From Molecular Clouds to Habitable Planetary Systems
    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 2.1 2.2 3.1
  • Abiotic Nitrogen Cycling

    This work considers how the chemistry in the atmosphere of Mars (and other “Earth-like” planets) may have affected life, including how prebiotic nitrogen species may have been formed for the origin of life, and how these atmospheres may have been changed. When too much nitrogen is removed from the atmosphere, this can result in a planet with too little atmospheric pressure to support liquid water and life on the surface.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 2.1 3.1
  • Module 2: Formation of Habitable Planetary Systems

    Our goal is to understand the physical processes that lead to planet formation, with a focus on aspects that determine the suitability of those planets to harbor life. Our main tool to accomplish this goal is observational astronomy. We utilize a variety of ground- and space-based telescopes across the electro-magnetic spectrum to make observations of circumstellar disks around sun-like as a function of the age of each system in order to constrain theories of planet formation and evolution. A central aspect of this work is to understand chemical processes that occur in disks and how such processes determine the structure and composition of the planets formed from them.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 3.1
  • Bally Project
    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1
  • Climate, Habitability, and the Atmosphere on Early Mars

    Atmospheric chemistry has profound implications for the climate and habitability of Mars throughout its history. The presence and stability of greenhouse gases and aerosols, for example, may regulate climate or force climate change. Chemical reactions in the atmosphere initiated by light (“photochemistry”) may also produce gases or aerosols that serve as a shield against ultraviolet light (as stratospheric ozone does on earth) and possibly warm or cool the surface, which, in turn, has implications for the presence and stability of water on Mars. Thus, understanding the chemical composition and physical properties of possible Martian atmospheres over time is vital to the understanding of the opportunities and challenges for early life on Mars, as well as the importance of habitat features that provide radiation protection. In this project, we are investigating in laboratory experiments how quickly photochemistry can destroy and produce various greenhouse gases and aerosols and whether or not the aerosols may serve to warm or cool the surface. We are also investigating whether or not these photochemical reactions can produce carbon-rich aerosols that might be depleted in the stable isotope carbon-13 relative to carbon-12, and thus might be mistaken for an isotopic signature produced by biological processes after the aerosols settle out of the atmosphere and become incorporated into the martian rock record or meteorites that have made it to earth.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 3.1 6.1 7.1 7.2
  • Evolution of a Habitable Planet (Brantley)

    As rocks interact with water and air, they transform chemically. Sometimes this chemical transformation is affected by the presence of organisms that leave biological signatures. The chemistry of metals and minerals are being probed to elucidate possible biosignatures that may be identified on Earth and Mars.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1
  • 2. Extraterrestrial Materials: Origin and Evolution of Organic Matter and Water in the Solar System
    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 3.1
  • Expanding the List of Target Stars for Next Generation SETI Searches

    For decades the conventional wisdom considered M dwarf stars unsuitable hosts for habitable planets. We convened an interdisciplinary workshop of thirty scientists to reconsider the issue. They concluded that life could evolve on planets orbiting higher mass M dwarfs. This improves the prospects for finding extraterrestrial life since M dwarfs account for about 75% of all stars. Based on these results, we are preparing a list of more than a million “target” stars for a search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) project.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 4.3 6.2 7.2
  • Early Oceans on Mars

    We investigate the possible origin and fate of oceans early in Martian history.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1
  • A Self-Perpetuating Catalyst for the Production of Organics in Protostellar Nebulae

    When hydrogen, nitrogen and CO are exposed to amorphous iron
    silicate surfaces at temperatures between 500 – 900K, a carbonaceous
    coating forms via Fischer-Tropsch type reactions. Under normal
    circumstances such a catalytic coating would impede or stop further
    reaction. However, we find that this coating is a better catalyst than
    the amorphous iron silicates that initiate these reactions. The
    formation of a self-perpetuating catalytic coating on grain surfaces
    could explain the rich deposits of macromolecular carbon found in
    primitive meteorites and would imply that protostellar nebulae should be
    rich in organic material. Many more experiments are needed to
    understand this system and its application to protostellar systems.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 3.1
  • Effects of Stellar Flares on Atmospheres of Habitable Planets

    Stellar flares, sudden energy bursts from a star, produce a cascade of particles and radiation that can affect that can affect the atmospheres of orbiting planets. Our research is focused on understanding how the atmospheric chemistry of a planet is affected by flares. We want to know if flares can modify the concentrations of compounds that are produced by life and released to the planetary atmosphere and if the ultraviolet radiation during a flare can reach the planetary surface and damage the possible organisms on that planet.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 4.3 7.2
  • Module 3: Nature of Planetary Systems

    Module 3: the Nature of Planetary Systems focuses on the direct detection and characterization of extrasolar planetary systems. As a complement to the successful radial velocity surveys, direct detection can further our understanding of planets in wide orbits with long periods. The module activity is divided into four areas: development of high contrast techniques, survey observations, and modeling of giant planet spectral energy distributions,
    planning for space missions. A separate report has been made of a study for space observations of Earth to explore observational and interpretive techniques.

    Research Overview
    LAPLACE is developing adaptive optics, differential imaging, and diffraction suppression techniques to optimize sensitivity levels of direct imaging surveys.
     A near infrared survey at H (1.65 μm) band using the VLT and MMT is being carried out to obtain direct images of young planets around nearby stars.
     A thermal infrared survey at L’ (3.8 μm) and M (4.8 μm) band survey using the MMT is being carried out to obtain direct images of older, cooler planets around the nearest stars.
    LAPLACE is developing detailed radiative transfer models of planetary atmospheres to predict flux levels for direct detection of planets using ground-based telescopes, HST, Spitzer, and JWST.
    NASA HQ is funding a study of a space mission PECO, refining a Phase Induced Amplitude Apodization Coronograph (with principal investigator Olivier Guyon, a new hire in Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona). Members of the science team for this mission study include Roger Angel and Neville Woolf of this module, and Michael Meyer of module 2. Other local team members are Glenn Schneider of Steward Observatory and Steven Ridgeway of NOAO. Also James Kasting of the Penn State NAI team is a member. Study partners include JPL, NASA Ames, Lockheed Martin and ITT.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2
  • Habitable Planets

    This task is concerned with understanding planetary bodies as they form in habitable zones. The planet formation process begins with fragmentation of large molecular clouds into flattened protoplanetary disks. This disk is in many ways an astrochemical “primeval soup” in which cosmically abundant elements are assembled into increasingly complex hydrocarbons and mixed in the dust and gas envelope within the disk. Gravitational attraction among the myriad small bodies leads to planet formation. If the newly formed planet is a suitable distance from its star to support liquid water at the surface, it is in the so called “habitable zone.” The formation process and identification of such life-supporting bodies is the goal of this project.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 2.1 4.3
  • Modeling Early Earth Environments

    In this project, scientists from different disciplines model the conditions likely to have been found on the Early Earth, prior to 2.3 billion years ago. Specific areas of research include understanding the gases, many biologically produced, and mechanisms that controlled early Earth’s surface temperature, the nature of hazes that shielded the planetary surface from UV and may be responsible for signatures in sulfur isotopes that were left in the rock record, the chemical nature of the Earth’s environment during and after a planet-wide glaciation (a “Snowball event”), the evolution of planetary atmospheres over time due to loss of atmosphere to space, and the use of iron isotopes as a tracer of the oxidative state of the Earth’s ocean over time.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 2.1 4.1 4.2 5.1 5.2 5.3 6.1 7.2
  • Evolution of the Interior and Its Consequences for Water on Mars

    The interior evolution of Mars influences the evolution of its atmosphere through volcanic outgassing. The atmosphere in turns influences the stability of liquid water on or near the surface and the radiation environment on the surface — two key aspects of planetary habitability,

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1
  • A Search for Primordial Water From Deep in the Earth’s Mantle

    This project is designed to provide information on the origin of Earth’s water. Comparing the isotopic composition of Earth’s primordial water (D/H ratio) with the ratios of other solar system objects can help to constrain possible sources of the water. The current ocean, other surface waters, and water in the upper mantle have experiences 4.5 billion years of geologic processing that has changed the original isotopic composition. By concentrating on rapidly quenched, under-gassed lavas from hot spots like Hawaii and Iceland, we hope to identify water that has not been through the extensive processing experienced by the surface water. Such a reservoir may have survived unaltered since shortly after the accretion of the Earth and thus may provide a better idea of the original composition of the Earth’s water.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 4.1
  • Planetary Habitability

    In this research project, members of the VPL team explore different aspects of planetary habitability, and the detectability of habitability and life, using a combination of theoretical models, astronomical observations and Earth-based field work.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 2.1 2.2 4.1 5.3 6.1 7.2
  • Chemical Models of Nebular Processes

    The goal of this task is to determine the chemical composition of icy bodies and establish their potential for delivering pre-biotic organic materials and water to the young Earth and other planets. This is being performed through detailed chemical modeling, coupled with physical evolution, of the interstellar precursor material and of the protosolar nebula. Related observational and laboratory studies are also being undertaken.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1
  • Planetary-Scale Transition From Abiotic to Biotic Nitrogen Cycle

    Nitrogen is an essential element for life. Understanding the planetary nitrogen cycle is critical to understanding the origin and evolution of life. The earth’s atmosphere is full of nitrogen gas (N2). However, this large pool of nitrogen is unavailable to most of the life on earth except a few microbes capable of “fixing” nitrogen into a form that can be used by other organisms (e.g., NH3, NH4+, NOx, organic-N). Without fixed nitrogen life would not have originated on earth and would most likely not occur on any other planet. The Atacama Desert in Chile is an enigma in that it contains vast nitrate (a type of fixed nitrogen) deposits. Elsewhere on earth, nitrate is either denitrified (transformed into N2 and released back into the atmosphere) through the activity of microorganisms, or is dissolved and leached from the system. Although the Atacama is the driest desert in the world we have shown that lack of water alone cannot account for the lack of nitrogen cycling in this desert. Preliminary data suggest that it may be due to the high oxidation level of the soil in combination with a lack of organic material in the soil.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 3.2 4.1 5.1 5.2 5.3 6.1
  • Planetary Surface and Interior Models and Super Earths

    In this task we are developing and using models of a terrestrial planet’s surface and interior to understand
    the evolution of planetary environments. These models allow us to understand how interactions between the
    planetary surface and interior, and life, affect a planet’s atmosphere. New models are also exploring the possible habitability of “super-Earths”, rocky planets that have been found around other stars that can be up to 10 times more massive than our own Earth.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 4.1 5.2 6.1 7.2
  • Isotopic Fingerprints of Past Life and Surface Conditions on Mars

    The isotopic composition of calcium is being investigated as a possible indicator the presence of past life on Mars. The research seeks to separate biological from non-biological effects, estimate the magnitude of the effects, and investigate terrestrial environments that may be analogues of early Martian surface environments. Unexpected results have led to evidence concerning the earliest stages of the formation of Mars.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 7.1
  • Prebiotic Organics From Space

    This project has three components, all aimed to better our understanding of the connection between chemistry in space and the origin of life on Earth and possibly other worlds. Our approach is to trace the formation and evolution of compounds in space, with particular emphasis on identifying those that are interesting from a prebiotic perspective, and understand their possible roles in the origin of life on habitable worlds. We do this by first measuring the spectra and chemistry of materials under simulated space conditions in the laboratory. We then use these results to interpret astronomical observations made with ground-based and orbiting telescopes. We also carry out experiments on simulated extraterrestrial materials to analyze extraterrestrial samples returned by NASA missions or that fall to Earth in as meteorites.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 2.2 3.1 3.4 4.3 7.1 7.2
  • Assessing the Likelihood of Supernova Impact of Protoplanetary Disks

    This project is investigating the origin, abundance, and distribution of short-lived radioisotopes in the early Solar System, and other planetary systems, possibly from massive stars. Specific focus is on Al-26 and Fe-60 as they played an important role in the early thermal evolution of planetesimals.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1
  • Planet Formation and Dynamical Modeling

    In this task, we use computer models of the formation of terrestrial planets and the chemistry in the protoplanetary disk to better understand how carbon, the backbone of life processes, becomes incorporated into
    forming planets. Our planet formation models are also being used to understand planet formation around low-mass stars and binary stars, and how tidal interactions between planet and star can cause a planet’s orbit to evolve
    over time, potentionally taking it into, or out of, the habitable zone.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 3.1 4.3
  • Isotopic Signatures of Methane and Higher Hydrocarbon Gases From Precambrian Shield Sites: A Model for Abiogenic Polymerization of Hydrocarbons

    Methane and higher hydrocarbon gases in ancient rocks on Earth originate from both biogenic and abiogenic processes. The measured carbon isotopic compositions of these natural gases are consistent with formation of polymerization of increasing long hydrocarbon chains starting with methane. Integration of carbon isotopic compositions with concentration data is needed to delineate the origin of hydrocarbon gases.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 3.1 4.1 4.2 6.1 7.1 7.2
  • Landforms Made by Groundwater Discharge on Mars and Earth

    On Mars and Earth, deep canyons with steep walls and no tributaries are found to terminate upstream in sharp amphitheater-shaped heads. For decades researchers have interpreted such features as being created by springs draining deep groundwater which undermine the head and advance it forward, with important implications for the history of climate on Mars. We have found through extensive field study of these features on Earth that such canyons are formed by waterfall erosion rather than by groundwater seepage. Hence, this morphology on Mars does not reliably indicate sustained groundwater discharge. This requires reconsideration of the interpretation of these features and of their significance as indicators of Mars environmental history.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1
  • The High Lakes Project (HLP)

    The High Lakes Project is a multi-disciplinary astrobiological investigation studying high-altitude lakes between 4,200 m and 5,916 m elevation in the Central Andes of Bolivia and Chile. Its primary objective is to understand the impact of increased environmental stress on lake habitats and their evolution during rapid climate change as an analogy to early Mars. Their unique geophysical environment and mostly uncharted ecosystems have added new objectives to the project, including the assessment of the impact of low ozone/high solar irradiance in non-polar aquatic environments, the documentation of poorly known ecosystems, and the quantification of the impact of climate change on lake environment and ecosystem.
    Data from 2003 to 2007 show that solar irradiance is 165% that of sea level with instantaneous UV-B flux reaching 17W/m2. Short UV wavelengths (260-270 nm) were recorded and peaked at 14.6 mW/m2. High solar irradiance occurs in an atmosphere permanently depleted in ozone falling below ozone hole definition for 33-36 days and between 30-35% depletion the rest of the year. The impact of strong UV-B and UV erythemally-weighted daily dose on life is compounded by broad daily temperature variations with sudden and sharp fluctuations. Lake habitat chemistry is highly dynamical with notable changes in yearly ion concentrations and pH resulting from low and variable yearly precipitation. The year-round combination of environmental variables define these lakes as end-members. In such an environment, they host surprisingly abundant and diverse ecosystems including a significant fraction of previously undescribed species of zooplankton, cyanobacterial, and bacterial populations.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 4.1 4.3 5.1 5.2 5.3 6.1 6.2 7.1
  • Training for Oxygen: Peroxy in Rocks, Early Life and the Evolution of the Atmosphere

    We try to find answers to a range of deep questions about the early Earth and about the origin and early evolution of life. How did the surface of planet Earth become slowly but inextricably oxidized during the first 2 billion years? We present evidence that it was not through the early introduction of oxygenic photosynthesis but through a purely abiotic process, driven by the tectonic forces of the early Earth and the weathering cycle. Only much later in Earth’s history, about 2.4 billion years ago, did photosynthesis kick in, boosting the oxygen level in the atmosphere to the levels that we enjoy now. If this is so, other Earth-like planets around other stars can be expected to undergo the same evolution from an early reduced state to an oxidized state.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 3.1 4.1 7.2
  • Modeling Early Atmospheric Composition and Climate

    We have updated our methane greenhouse model for the early Earth by including the greenhouse effect of ethane and the anti-greenhouse effect of organic haze. We analyzed the mass-independent sulfur isotopic record to find evidence for the existence of such haze during the mid-Archean, between 3.2 and 2.8 Ga. And we worked on the problem of hydrogen escape from the early Earth.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 4.1
  • Radiolytic Oxidation of Sulfide Minerals as a Source of Sulfate and Hydrogen to Sustain Microbial Metabolism

    Microbial ecosystems have been discovered in crustal environments up to 2.8 kilometers below the surface of Earth. Life in this extreme environment apapears to be sustained by high concentrations of dissolved sulfate and hydrogen. Splitting of water molecules by radiation from uranium can produce oxidation gradients that result in simple ionic products usable for maintenance and growth of microbial organisms. A set of experiments exposing water and common sulfide minerals to radiation in a laboratory reactor were conducted to test this hypothesis.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 3.3 4.1 5.1 5.3 6.2
  • Fingerprinting Late Additions to the Earth and Moon via the Study of Highly Siderophile Elements in Lunar Impact Melt Rocks

    Lunar impact melt rocks have been examined for absolute and relative abundances of the highly siderophile elements. This suite of iron-loving elements can potentially be used to fingerprint the large impactors that struck the Earth and Moon during late stages of bombardment. Results for a variety of Apollo and meteoritic impact melt rocks suggest that some impactors contained highly siderophile elements similar to chondritic meteorites in our collections. Data for several samples, however, are outside of the known chondritic range, and may suggest an origin via a type of impactor that is no longer sampled by the Earth.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1
  • VPL Climate and Radiative Transfer Models

    This project develops models of planetary atmospheres and surface temperature to allow us to model extra solar terrestrial planetary environments and to understand what they would look like to distant observers.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2
  • Planet Formation and Dynamical Modeling
    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 3.1 6.2
  • PSARC (Sigurdsson Report)

    Theoretical modeling of planetary dynamics, in particular the later stages of planet formation and the role of giant planet migration in the formation of terrestrial planets.
    Also, direct detection of planets around burned out stars using existing space based telescopes, and planets around pulsars.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2
  • VPL Model Interfaces and the Community Tool

    The Virtual Planetary Laboratory’s primary mission is to support NASA’s ongoing planet-finding efforts by building computer simulated Earth-sized worlds to discover the likely range of environments for planets around other stars. To that end, we are developing web-based community tools that allow researchers to collaborate on planetary climate models. These tools combine models and data that help predict the observable properties of planets orbiting other stars.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 4.1 7.2
  • Star and Planet Formation
    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1
  • Origin and Evolution of Organics

    The central goal of the Blake group effort in the NASA GSFC Astrobiology node (Origin and Evolution of Organics in Planetary Systems (Mike Mumma, P.I.) is to determine whether complex organics such as those seen in meteorites are detectable in the circumstellar accretion disks that encircle young stars and in the comae of comets. Our program has both observational and laboratory components. We use state-of-the-art telescopes from microwave to optical frequencies, and we have developed novel high frequency and temporal resolution instruments that seek to utilize the unique properties of the terahertz (THz) modes of complex organics. Future observations of such modes with the Herschel and SOFIA observatories promise to revolution our understanding of prebiotic chemistry in both our own and other solar systems.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 3.1
  • Dynamical Evolution of Astroid Belt and the Parent Bodies of Iron Meteorites

    This project focuses on the study of the origin and mechanism of the delivery of the parent bodies of iron meteorites to the inner part of the asteroid belt. The goal of the project is to portray a comprehensive picture of the growth and scattering of meteorite parent bodies in the inner part of the solar system by studying the interactions among protoplanets and planetesimals, and the influence of a growing giant planet on the dynamics of these objects.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1
  • Sulfur Biogeochemistry of the Early Earth

    Sulfur is widespread in surface geochemical systems and is abundant in many rock types. It is present in volcanic gases and marine waters, and has served a key role in geobiological processes since the origin of life. Like other low atomic number elements, sulfur isotope ratios in various compounds usually follow predictable mass-dependent fractionation laws; these different mass-dependent isotope fractionations serve as powerful tracers for igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary, hydrothermal and biological processes. Mass-independent sulfur isotope fractionation is a short-wavelength photolytic effect that occurs in space, as well as in gas-phase reactions in atmospheres transparent to deep penetration by ultraviolet light. Crucial aspects of the chemical evolution of the early atmosphere — and the surface zone as a whole — can be followed by mass-independent sulfur isotopes in Archean metasedimentary rocks. Metabolic styles of organisms in response to global changes in surface redox over geologic time can also be traced with multiple S isotopes.

    We have concluded from our various studies over the last year and before to the very inception of the NAI node at Colorado, that all Archean sulfur minerals previously documented for their 34S/32S compositions warrant a comprehensive re-examination of their 32S, 33S, 34S (and 36S), sulfur isotope systematics.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 4.1 4.2 5.1 5.2 5.3 6.1 7.1 7.2
  • Origin and Evolution of Organics in Planetary Systems

    Professor Fegley’s group at Washington University in St Louis modeled chemistry of outgassed volatiles during accretion of the Earth. Accretion of the Earth, and especially the Moon-forming impact, heats the Earth to temperatures high enough to melt and vaporize its silicate crust and mantle. The Earth has a silicate atmosphere during this phase of its history. As the Earth cools down, the silicate atmosphere collapses and a steam atmosphere forms. This atmosphere is not pure steam, but contains H2O, H2, CO, CO2, CH4 in varying proportions depending on temperature and pressure. Further cooling leads to a collapse of the steam atmosphere and a gaseous atmosphere forms. This is an early reducing atmosphere with CH4, H2, NH3, and water vapor.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 3.1 3.2
  • Research Activities in the Astrobiology Analytical Laboratory

    A little over 4.5 billion years ago, our solar system was a disk of gas and dust, newly collapsed from a molecular cloud, surrounding a young and growing protostar. Today most of the gas and dust is in the spectacularly diverse planets and satellites of our solar system, and in the Sun. How did the present state of the planetary system come to be from such undistinguished beginnings? The telling of that story is an exercise in forensic science. The “crime” occurred a long time ago and the “evidence” has been tampered with, as most planets and satellites display a rich variety of geological evolution over solar system history.

    Fortunately, not all material has been heavily processed. Comets and asteroids represent largely unprocessed material remnant from the early solar system and they a represented on Earth by meteorites and interplanetary dust particles (IDPs). Furthermore, telescopic studies of the birth places of other solar systems allow researchers to simulate those environments in the laboratory so that we may characterize the organic material produced.

    We are a laboratory dedicated to the study of organic compounds derived from Stardust and future sample return missions, meteorites, lab simulations of Mars, interstellar, proto-planetary, and cometary ices and grains, and instrument development. Like forensic crime shows, the Astrobiology Analytical Laboratory employs commercial analytical instruments. However, ours are configured and optimized for small organics of astrobiological interest instead of blood, clothing, etc.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 2.2 3.1 7.1
  • Untitled
    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 2.2 3.1 4.1
  • Formation and Detection of Hot-Earth Objects in Systems With Close-In Jupiters

    The time of the transit of a planet can be altered by the perturbation of other (planetary) objects in the system. These alterations can be used to identify the presence of the perturbing bodies and are much larger when the perturber and the transiting object are in mean-motion resonances. This project is on mapping the parameter-space of a system of a hot-Jupiter and a terrestrial planet to identify regions where the tererstrial planet will produce the largest transit timing variations.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2
  • Formation and the Prospects of the Detection of Habitable Planets in Extreme Planetary Systems

    Many of extrasolar planetary systems contain multiple bodies with orbital characteristics unseen in our solar system (e.g. hot-Jupiters, and multiple giant planets and/or stellar companions on highly eccentric orbits). This project focuses on the possibility of the existence and formation of habitable planets in such extreme planetary systems.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1
  • Formation of Planetesimals in a Dynamically Evolving Nebula

    The current model of the formation of planetesimals through gravitational instability cannot account for the growth of particles from a few mm to several cm in size. The shear-induced turbulence in such systems prevents small solid objects to accumulate and grow larger. The focus of this project is to show that the appearance of gas density/pressure enhanced regions will facilitate this process and speed up the growth of small solid objects.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1
  • Origin and Activation Mechanism of Main Belt Comets

    The newly discovered icy asteroids, known as Main Belt Comets (MBCs), are dynamically similar to the main belt asteroids while present physical characteristics (e.g., dusty tails and comae) that resemble those of comets. This project aims to understand the origin of these objects and the mechanism of their activation. Results indicate that MBCs were most likely formed in situ, and their activation was caused by collision with small meter-sized objects.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1
  • Origin of Irregular Satellites

    An interesting feature of the giant planets of our solar system is the existence of regions around these objects where no irregular satellites are observed. Surveys have shown that, around Jupiter, such a region extends from the outermost regular satellite Callisto to the vicinity of Themisto, the innermost irregular satellite. This project aims to understand the reason for the existence of such a satellite—void region by numerically integrating the orbits of several hundred small objects, distributed in a region between 30 and 80 Jupiter-radii.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1
  • Sediment-Buried Basement Deep Biosphere

    There is growing evidence that a substantial subseafloor biosphere extends throughout the immense volume of aging basement (basaltic rock) of the ocean crust. Since most ocean basement rock is buried under thick, impermeable layers of sediment, the fluids circulating within the underlying ocean basement are usually inaccessible for direct studies. Circulation Obviation Retrofit Kit (CORK) observatories affixed to Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) boreholes offer an unprecedented opportunity to study biogeochemical properties and microbial diversity in circulating fluids from deep ocean basement. UH-NAI post doctoral fellows (e.g., Brian Glazer, Andrew Boal)

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 3.3 4.1 5.1 5.2 5.3 6.1 6.2
  • The Delivery of Short-Lived Radionucleides to the Solar System

    I have studied various astrophysical scenarios for the delivery of short-lived radionucleides to star forming cores and planet forming disks in order to explain the observed abundances of 26-Al and 60-Fe in primitive meteorites. The latter, in particular, implies the birth of our solar system closely followed the death of a massive star. It is hard to reconcile the astrophysical and cosmochemical pictures but the most likely birth environment of our Sun was in a giant molecular cloud that formed several generations of stars.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 4.3
  • Variable Young Stellar Objects Survey (VYSOS)

    VYSOS is designed as a survey for variable young stellar objects (protostars and early stars) along the galactic plane and for transiting planets. Out of the about 300 known extrasolar planets just 50 are passing in front of their host star (transits). These transiting planets are highly valuable in scientific terms, because in combination with spectroscopic follow-up observations the absolute values for planetary mass, radius and the geometry of the system can be given. This information allows more detailed follow-up observations by space-based telescopes in order to deduct the composition of the planetary atmosphere and search for prerequisites of life like water in these atmospheres.

    Transiting planets have triggered much theoretical research on planet formation and planetary systems within the past years. The spectrum of densities of planets is not yet fully understood, which has implications for theories about planetary formation as well as atmospheric models.

    ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2