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NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

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NASA Selects New Science Teams for the NASA Astrobiology Institute

The NAI welcomes three new teams!
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Victoria Meadows to Receive the 2018 Drake Award

VPL PI recognized for contributions to the field of astrobiology
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Signs of Warmth in Mars' Past

A new climate model may explain the mineralogy of Mars
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ARIEL Mission Set for 2028

Next ESA mission will focus on exoplanet atmospheres

Gravity Assist Podcast

  1. Student Poster Competition Winners at AbSciCon 2017

    Image credit: None

    The NASA Astrobiology Institute was pleased to once again sponsor the Student Poster Competition at the Astrobiology Science Conference (AbSciCon) 2017. As with previous AbSciCon conferences, this event provided motivation, encouragement, and most of all, recognition to astrobiologists of the future.

    Thank you to the 85 students and 43 judges that participated in the competition! 

    The first place poster, with an award of $1000, went to Jacqueline Long from the College of Marine Science, University of South Florida. Her poster was titled: Chlorophyll-f: Earth’s Unseen Production and Habitability Under Red Light.

    You can read her abstract at: http://www ...

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    Feature Stories
    May 04, 2017 / Written by: Julie Fletcher

  1. Finding Signs of Alien Life Might Be Harder Than We Thought. Here's Why

    An artist's conception of planet Kepler-452b, the first near-Earth-sized world to be found in the habitable zone of a star that is similar to our sun. Image credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle
    An artist's conception of planet Kepler-452b, the first near-Earth-sized world to be found in the habitable zone of a star that is similar to our sun.

    (Inside Science) — It seems like every day that astronomers discover another possibly habitable world, like Proxima Centauri b, our closest exoplanent neighbor, and TRAPPIST-1f, one of seven recently discovered Earth-sized planets orbiting the same star. But don’t prepare for first contact just yet. It will be exceedingly complicated to figure out whether there’s actually any life or potential for it on such planets, based on new research into our own evolving world.

    To a distant observer peering through a telescope, even Earth would not have shown signs of life through most of its past. Despite the fact that our ...

    Source: [NBC News]

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    Research Highlights
    May 02, 2017 / Written by: Ramin Skibba

  1. Behind the Iron Curtain: How Methane-Making Microbes Kept the Early Earth Warm

    Marcus Bray (left), a biology Ph.D. candidate, and Jennifer Glass, assistant professor in the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and member of the NASA Astrobiology Institute Alternative Earths team, are shown in the laboratory where tiny incubators simulated early Earth conditions. (Credit: Rob Felt, Georgia Tech) Image credit: None
    Marcus Bray (left), a biology Ph.D. candidate, and Jennifer Glass, assistant professor in the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and member of the NASA Astrobiology Institute Alternative Earths team, are shown in the laboratory where tiny incubators simulated early Earth conditions. (Credit: Rob Felt, Georgia Tech)

    For much of its first two billion years, Earth was a very different place: oxygen was scarce, microbial life ruled, and the sun was significantly dimmer than it is today. Yet the rock record shows that vast seas covered much of the early Earth under the faint young sun.

    Scientists have long debated what kept those seas from freezing. A popular theory is that potent gases such as methane – with many times more warming power than carbon dioxide – created a thicker greenhouse atmosphere than required to keep water liquid today.

    In the absence of oxygen, iron built up in ancient ...

    Source: [Georgia Tech]

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    Research Highlights
    April 18, 2017 / Written by: Georgia Tech

  1. NASA Missions Provide New Insights into 'Ocean Worlds' in Our Solar System


    We once thought oceans made our planet unique, but we’re now coming to realize that ‘ocean worlds’ are all around us. Video credit: NASA

    Two veteran NASA missions are providing new details about icy, ocean-bearing moons of Jupiter and Saturn, further heightening the scientific interest of these and other “ocean worlds” in our solar system and beyond. The findings are presented in papers published Thursday by researchers with NASA’s Cassini mission to Saturn and Hubble Space Telescope.

    In the papers, Cassini scientists announce that a form of chemical energy that life can feed on appears to exist on ...

    This illustration shows Cassini diving through the Enceladus plume in 2015. New ocean world discoveries from Cassini and Hubble will help inform future exploration and the broader search for life beyond Earth. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech Image credit:
    This illustration shows Cassini diving through the Enceladus plume in 2015. New ocean world discoveries from Cassini and Hubble will help inform future exploration and the broader search for life beyond Earth. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

    Source: [NASA]

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    Feature Stories
    April 13, 2017 / Written by: NASA

  1. Microbes Set the Stage For First Animals

    Algal bloom in Arctic pond near Tiksi viewed from a Soviet transport helicopter. Image credit: None
    Algal bloom in Arctic pond near Tiksi viewed from a Soviet transport helicopter.

    It is thought that animal life first arose during the Ediacaran Period, between 635 and 541 million years ago, but these organisms bore little resemblance to the animals we know today. That’s led some scientists to believe that they may not have been animals at all, and instead amounted to failed experiments in multi-cellular evolution.

    The remains of these odd creatures, most of which have no evidence of a circulatory or digestive system, largely vanished from the rock record at the start of the Cambrian Period, 541 million years ago. Piecing together a picture of the Ediacaran environment is key ...

    Source: [astrobio.net]

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    Research Highlights
    March 29, 2017 / Written by: Amanda Doyle

  1. 3rd AbSciCon Meeting Mentor Program

    The 3rd AbSciCon Meeting Mentor Program takes place Tuesday, April 25, 2017, 7:45AM-1:30PM. Image credit: None
    The 3rd AbSciCon Meeting Mentor Program takes place Tuesday, April 25, 2017, 7:45AM-1:30PM.

    We are thrilled to announce the 3rd AbSciCon Meeting Mentor Program! This is an opportunity for AbSciCon attendees to contribute to inspiring the next generation by providing a safe and guided exposure to a very important and integral part of life as a scientist—participating in a major scientific conference. We will pair you with a local high school or community college student for a 1/2-day during AbSciCon (the morning of Tuesday, April 25th). You and your mentee will do everything you would normally do – attend the plenary, converse with colleagues during coffee breaks, attend session talks, chair sessions ...

    Source: [AbSciCon 2017]

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    Feature Stories
    March 22, 2017 / Written by: Daniella Scalice

  1. NAI CAN 8 Preproposal Conference - Friday, March 10, 2017

    The CAN 8 preproposal conference was held March 10, 2017 at 11AM PST / 2PM EST. Image credit: None
    The CAN 8 preproposal conference was held March 10, 2017 at 11AM PST / 2PM EST.

    A preproposal conference for NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) Cooperative Agreement Notice Cycle 8 (CAN 8) was held on March 10, 2017 to provide interested parties the opportunity to better understand the intent, scope, and selection criteria of this CAN.

    For slides from the conference and more information and updates on CAN 8, visit: https://nai.nasa.gov/funding/can-8/.

    ________________________

    Solicitation Number: NNH17ZDA003C

    CAN Release Date: February 27, 2017

    Step-1 Proposal Due: April 12, 2017

    Step-2 Proposals Due: July 6, 2017

    Source: [NASA Astrobiology Institute]

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    Feature Stories
    March 08, 2017 / Posted by: Miki Huynh

  1. NASA Study Hints at Possible Change in Water ‘Fingerprint’ of Comet

    Scientists from NASA’s Goddard Center for Astrobiology observed the comet C/2014 Q2 – also called Lovejoy – and made simultaneous measurements of the output of H<sub>2</sub>O and HDO, a variant form of water. This image of Lovejoy was taken on Feb. 4, 2015 – the same day the team made their observations and just a few days after the comet passed its perihelion, or closest point to the sun. Credits: Courtesy of Damian Peach Image credit: None
    Scientists from NASA’s Goddard Center for Astrobiology observed the comet C/2014 Q2 – also called Lovejoy – and made simultaneous measurements of the output of H2O and HDO, a variant form of water. This image of Lovejoy was taken on Feb. 4, 2015 – the same day the team made their observations and just a few days after the comet passed its perihelion, or closest point to the sun. Credits: Courtesy of Damian Peach

    A trip past the sun may have selectively altered the production of one form of water in a comet – an effect not seen by astronomers before, a new NASA study suggests.

    Astronomers from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, observed the Oort cloud comet C/2014 Q2, also called Lovejoy, when it passed near Earth in early 2015. Through NASA’s partnership in the W. M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, the team observed the comet at infrared wavelengths a few days after Lovejoy passed its perihelion – or closest point to the sun.

    The team focused ...

    Source: [NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center]

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    Research Highlights
    March 07, 2017 / Written by: Elizabeth Zubritsky

  1. Proto-Computation and Proto-Life Workshop

    Researchers with backgrounds in chemistry, biology, cultural anthropology, geology, chemical engineering, and design aesthetics gathered at Harvard University during a two-day workshop titled “Proto-computation and Proto-life”. Attendees explored technical and philosophical approaches to assessing the conditions under which matter may ‘compute’ something about its environment, and whether such conditions offer a clue as to the origins of life in our universe.

    Sophia Roosth, author of the newly released book Synthetic: How Life got Made opened the workshop with a beguilingly simple question: Is life a pattern or a substance? She presented historical cases wherein life was variously considered as form ...

    Sophia Roosth, Associate Professor at Harvard University, presents her talk, “Life Is Not a Natural Kind”. Source: B. Kacar Image credit: None
    Sophia Roosth, Associate Professor at Harvard University, presents her talk, “Life Is Not a Natural Kind”. Source: B. Kacar

    Source: [Harvard Origins of Life Initiative]

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    Feature Stories
    March 06, 2017 / Written by: Betül Kacar

  1. New Findings of Early Life on Earth Date Back 3.77 Billion Years

    A reconstructed image of hematite tubes from microfossils discovered in hydrothermal vent precipitates dating back to at least 3,770 million years ago. Source: M. Dodd Image credit: None
    A reconstructed image of hematite tubes from microfossils discovered in hydrothermal vent precipitates dating back to at least 3,770 million years ago. Source: M. Dodd

    Researchers have determined that fossilized evidence of bacteria from ancient seafloor hydrothermal vent precipitates found in the Nuvvuagittuq belt in Quebec, Canada is at least 3.77 billion years old (or even as much as 4.28 billion years old). The minimum age of the fossils would make them the oldest indication of life on Earth so far.

    Lead authors Matthew Dodd and Dominic Papineau with their team analyzed jasper rock samples, finding microfossils of filaments and tubes filled with hematite, the mineral form of ferric oxide or rust, similar to the remains of modern day microbes living around hydrothermal ...

    Source: [Nature]

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    Research Highlights
    March 03, 2017 / Written by: Miki Huynh

  1. It Takes a Village to Model a Planet

    The Virtual Planetary Laboratory investigates the potential habitability of extrasolar planets. The research will help in predicting the habitability of discovered bodies like the Earth-size planets orbiting TRAPPIST-1. Image source: NASA Image credit: None
    The Virtual Planetary Laboratory investigates the potential habitability of extrasolar planets. The research will help in predicting the habitability of discovered bodies like the Earth-size planets orbiting TRAPPIST-1. Image source: NASA

    With the exciting recent discoveries of planets orbiting TRAPPIST-1 and Proxima Centauri, interest in exoplanets is on the rise, and the Virtual Planetary Laboratory (VPL), the NASA Astrobiology Institute team based at the University of Washington, is poised to help the science community better predict which exoplanets might be able to support life and serve as ideal targets for future missions.

    VPL studies what factors affect habitability and what observable characteristics of a planet point to signs of life (and what might also misdirect us) using field and lab experiments and computational models. An article published at Now.space ...

    Source: [Now.space]

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    Feature Stories
    March 02, 2017 / Posted by: Miki Huynh

  1. Does Pluto Have The Ingredients For Life?

    One of the surprises of the New Horizons mission was finding water ice mountains on Pluto, that quite possibly are floating on a subsurface ocean of liquid water. Image credit: None
    One of the surprises of the New Horizons mission was finding water ice mountains on Pluto, that quite possibly are floating on a subsurface ocean of liquid water.

    Pluto has long been viewed as a distant, cold and mostly dead world, but the first spacecraft to pass by it last year revealed many surprises about this distant dwarf planet.

    Data from the New Horizons flyby finished downloading to Earth in October, and while it will take many years for scientists to complete their inventory and model the results, early studies offer intriguing hints of its complex chemistry, perhaps even some form of pre-biological processes below Pluto’s surface. Complex layers of organic haze; water ice mountains from some unknown geologic process; possible organics on the surface; and a ...

    Source: [astrobio.net]

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    Research Highlights
    February 28, 2017 / Written by: Elizabeth Howell

  1. NASA Astrobiology Institute Cooperative Agreement Notice Cycle 8 Released

    The NASA Astrobiology Institute CAN 8 has been released. Step-1 Proposals are due April 12, 2017. Image credit: None
    The NASA Astrobiology Institute CAN 8 has been released. Step-1 Proposals are due April 12, 2017.

    Solicitation Number: NNH17ZDA003C

    CAN Release Date: February 27, 2017

    Step-1 Proposal Due: April 12, 2017

    Step-2 Proposals Due: July 6, 2017

    The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate has released a Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN) soliciting team-based proposals for membership in the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI).

    The goal of CAN Cycle 8 is to maintain a multidisciplinary institute by selecting focused, interdisciplinary teams that complement without replicating the strengths of the continuing teams. The teams selected in Cycle 8 will replace the teams selected in Cycle 6, whose five-year Cooperative Agreements are expiring.

    The CAN for Cycle ...

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    Feature Stories
    February 27, 2017 / Written by: NASA Science Mission Directorate

  1. Selection of NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellows from the November 2016 Opportunity

    Image credit: None

    The NASA Astrobiology Program is pleased to announce the selection of three new 2016 NASA Postdoctoral Fellows:

    Timothy Bowling

    Advisor: Simone Marchi, U Colorado Boulder (Habitable Worlds)

    Topic: Modeling the Origin and Evolution of Habitable Environments in Post-Impact Hydrothermal Systems Beneath Martian Craters

    Mackenzie Day

    Advisor: David Catling, University of Washington (Habitable Worlds)

    Topic: Habitability of ancient martian dunes

    Moran Frenkel-Pinter

    Advisor: Loren Williams, Georgia Institute of Technology (Exobiology: Prebiotic Evolution)

    Topic: Prebiotic Self-Assembly of plausible proto-depsipeptides

    Congrats to our new Fellows! More information about the NASA Astrobiology Postdoctoral Program is available at: http://nai.nasa.gov/funding/postdoctoral-fellowship-program/.

    Source: [NASA Astrobiology Postdoctoral Program]

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    Feature Stories
    February 24, 2017 / Posted by: Miki Huynh

  1. NASA Telescope Reveals Largest Batch of Earth-Size, Habitable-Zone Planets Around a Single Star

    This illustration shows the possible surface of TRAPPIST-1f, one of the newly discovered planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system. Scientists using the Spitzer Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes have discovered that there are seven Earth-size planets in the system. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech Image credit: None
    This illustration shows the possible surface of TRAPPIST-1f, one of the newly discovered planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system. Scientists using the Spitzer Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes have discovered that there are seven Earth-size planets in the system. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

    NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has revealed the first known system of seven Earth-size planets around a single star. Three of these planets are firmly located in the habitable zone, the area around the parent star where a rocky planet is most likely to have liquid water.

    The discovery sets a new record for greatest number of habitable-zone planets found around a single star outside our solar system. All of these seven planets could have liquid water – key to life as we know it – under the right atmospheric conditions, but the chances are highest with the three in the habitable ...

    Source: [NASA]

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    Feature Stories
    February 22, 2017 / Written by: NASA
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