Artist representation of a spectroscopy spectra.NASA Astrobiology
In the spring of 2022, over 100 scientists and technologists took part in a NASA-supported workshop that focused on the interconnections between science and technology involved in the search for signs of life in the Solar System. Findings from the virtual Future of the Search for Life Science and Engineering Workshop has now been published in the journal Astrobiology.
The report highlights discussions that took place concerning the advancements needed both in measurement techniques and technology for future missions designed to search for and detect in situ signs of life in the Solar System. Approaches to the search for life covered a variety of environments on Enceladus, Europa, Mars, and Titan.
The two week virtual workshop was jointly organized by two NASA Research Coordination Networks (RCNs), the Network for Ocean Worlds (NOW) and the Network for Life Detection (NFoLD).
The paper “Future of the Search for Life: Workshop Report” was published in the journal Astrobiology