On the Past, Present, and Future Role of Biology in NASA’s Exploration of our Solar System
Whitepaper #229 submitted to the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032. Topics: habitability and water; life and prebiotic organics; ocean worlds
by Kevin Hand, Cynthia B. Phillips, Christopher F. Chyba, Brandy Toner, Kakani Katija, Victoria Orphan, Julie Huber, Colleen M. Cavanaugh, Marian Carlson, Brent Christner, Alexis Templeton, Jeffrey Seewald, Jason D. Hofgartner, Jan P. Amend, Beth N. Orcutt, Douglas H. Bartlett, Paul Falkowski, Rika Anderson, John R. Spear, Tim Shank, Woodward W. Fischer, Robert M. Hazen, Tori Hoehler, Steven D'Hondt, Jo Pitesky, Kennda Lynch, Everett L. Shock, Kate Craft, Eric Boyd, Christopher H. House, Anna-Louise Reysenbach, Jennifer Glass, David Fike, John A. Baross, Johann Peter Gogarten, Betül Kaçar, Moh El-Naggar, Alison E. Murray, Christopher Dupont, Jennifer Scully, Lynn Rothschild, Elizabeth Trembath-Reichert, Frieder Klein, Phoebe A. Cohen, Gillian H. Gile, Karen Lloyd, Anne Dekas, John R. Delaney, Mark Skidmore, Joy Buongiorno, Karyn Rogers, Amy Hofmann, William J. Brazelton, Ariel Anbar, Dana Ann Manalang, Bradley Stevenson, Susanne Neuer, Ellie Hara, Thomas Nordheim, Russell Shapiro, Alexander S. Bradley, Jill Mikucki, Michael E. Brown, Mihaela Glamoclija, Carolina Reyes, Mónica Sánchez-Román, Jack D. Farmer, Donato Giovannelli, Gurol Suel, Samantha Trumbo, Marissa Cameron, Magdalena Osburn, James Andrew Bradley, Ferran Garcia-Pichel, Andrew D. Steen, Jeffrey Marlow, Gareth Trubl, Kirtland Robinson, Tristan Caro, Victoria Fulfer, Ceth W. Parker, Jayme Feyhl-Buska, and Anaïs Roussel
Published onMar 18, 2021
On the Past, Present, and Future Role of Biology in NASA’s Exploration of our Solar System
Here we provide a brief perspective on the role of biology in NASA’s planetary science goals, and its spacecraft missions, past, present, and future. We argue that while biology — via astrobiology — generates much interest and excitement for NASA, biology is vastly under-represented as a science within NASA Planetary Science Division missions.
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0)
