The scientific search underway for life beyond Earth requires input from many disciplines and fields. Strategies forward have to hear and take in what scientists in those many fields have to say.NASA
Dear Community,
The field of astrobiology has reached a point where framework and organization are needed to serve the science. NASA recently issued a call to action to the scientific community involved in life detection research to seek new levels of collaboration in how results are characterized and communicated, organized around standards of evidence. More so than continued ad hoc results, a clear system is needed that defines the confidence in those results and shines a light on next steps to progress them toward confirmation of life on another world.
Led by the Network for Life Detection and the Nexus for Exoplanet System Science, a community-based workshop was held in 2021 to advance thinking about such a system, and how it might be implemented in our work as astrobiologists. The draft white paper from the workshop can be accessed here.
Now, the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Science (CAPS) is involved in reviewing the draft white paper from the workshop, and seeks additional input from all stakeholders. If you would like to offer input, attributed or anonymous, please use this form and submit by February 18th: