Goals and Objectives
The NASA Astrobiology Roadmap provides guidance for research and technology development across the NASA Enterprises that encompass the space, Earth and biological sciences. The Roadmap is formulated in terms of seven Science Goals that outline key domains of investigation. For each of these goals, Science Objectives outline more specific high priority efforts for the next three to five years. These eighteen objectives will be integrated with NASA strategic planning.
Goal 1—Understand the nature and distribution of habitable environments in the Universe
- Objective 1.1—Models of formation and evolution of habitable planets
- Objective 1.2— Indirect and direct astronomical observations of extrasolar habitable planets
Goal 2—Explore for past or present habitable environments, prebiotic chemistry and signs of life elsewhere in our Solar System
- Objective 2.1—Mars exploration
- Objective 2.2—Outer Solar System exploration
Goal 3—Understand how life originates from cosmic and planetary precursors
- Objective 3.1—Sources of prebiotic materials and catalysts
- Objective 3.2—Origins and evolution of functional biomolecules
- Objective 3.3—Origins of energy transduction
- Objective 3.4—Origins of cellularity and protobiological systems
Goal 4—Understand how past life on Earth interacted with its changing planetary and Solar System environment
- Objective 4.1—Earth's early biosphere
- Objective 4.2—Foundations of complex life
- Objective 4.3—Effects of extraterrestrial events upon the biosphere
Goal 5—Understand the evolutionary mechanisms and environmental limits of life
- Objective 5.1—Environment-dependent, molecular evolution in microorganisms
- Objective 5.2—Co-evolution of microbial communities
- Objective 5.3—Biochemical adaptation to extreme environments
Goal 6—Understand the principles that will shape the future of life, both on Earth and beyond
- Objective 6.1—Environmental changes and the cycling of elements by the biota, communities, and ecosystems
- Objective 6.2—Adaptation and evolution of life beyond Earth
Goal 7—Determine how to recognize signatures of life on other worlds and on early Earth
- Objective 7.1— Biosignatures to be sought in Solar System materials
- Objective 7.2—Biosignatures to be sought in nearby planetary systems