NAI
2015 Annual Science Report
Reporting | JAN 2015 – DEC 2015
Letter from the Director: 2015 NAI Annual Science Report
We are very pleased to publish the NAI 2015 Annual Report covering the period January 1 to December 31, 2015. As readers of these letters likely know, one of NAI’s most central success criteria is the Institute being more than the sum of its parts. This particularly applies to scientific research, where our goal is to bring our individual research teams together to realize synergies and achieve scientific outcomes that otherwise would not have occurred. This has been a particular focus since the most recently selected (CAN-7) teams came on board at the beginning of 2015. (See the Director’s Letter introducing these teams in the 2014 Annual Report.)
Continue reading.This Year At a Glance
12
Teams
122
Project Reports
356
Publications
119
Field Sites
Breakdown of Top Journal Publications
- 7Science
- 7PNAS
- 19Nature
Team Reports
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- NASA Ames Research Center
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Icy Worlds
- SETI Institute
- University of California, Riverside
- University of Colorado, Boulder
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- University of Montana, Missoula
- University of Southern California
- University of Wisconsin
- VPL at University of Washington
NAI Central Activities
Browse by Roadmap Objectives
Based on the 2008 Astrobiology Roadmap- Goal 1
- 1.1Formation and evolution of habitable planets.
- 1.2Indirect and direct astronomical observations of extrasolar habitable planets.
- Goal 2
- 2.1Mars exploration.
- 2.2Outer Solar System exploration
- Goal 3
- 3.1Sources of prebiotic materials and catalysts
- 3.2Origins and evolution of functional biomolecules
- 3.3Origins of energy transduction
- 3.4Origins of cellularity and protobiological systems
- Goal 4
- 4.1Earth's early biosphere.
- 4.2Production of complex life.
- 4.3Effects of extraterrestrial events upon the biosphere
- Goal 5
- 5.1Environment-dependent, molecular evolution in microorganisms
- 5.2Co-evolution of microbial communities
- 5.3Biochemical adaptation to extreme environments
- Goal 6
- 6.1Effects of environmental changes on microbial ecosystems
- 6.2Adaptation and evolution of life beyond Earth
- Goal 7
- 7.1Biosignatures to be sought in Solar System materials
- 7.2Biosignatures to be sought in nearby planetary systems