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Astrobiology
Roadmap Workshop Agenda
NASA Ames Research
Center
July 20-22, 1998--Draft
Monday,
July 20, 1998
Morning
| 7:30 | Registration and Continental Breakfast | |
| 8:30 | Welcome to Ames Research Center |
Henry McDonald |
| 8:45 | Life in the Universe | Daniel
Goldin NASA Administrator |
| 9:00 | Astrobiology - Bringing a New Science to Life | Michael
Meyer Astrobiology Discipline Scientist NASA Headquarters Co-chair, Roadmap Team |
| 9:10 | An Overview of Astrobiology Roadmapping | David
Morrison Director, Space, NASA ARC Co-chair, Roadmap Team |
| 9:30 | The NASA Astrobiology Institute | Scott
Hubbard Deputy Director, Space, NASA ARC; Interim Manager, NASA Astrobiology Institute |
| 9:50 | Break | |
| 10:10 | The Cosmic Context for Life | Jill
Tarter SETI Institute |
| 10:30 | Life's Molecular Roots | Andrew
Ellington University of Texas at Austin |
| 10:50 | The Astrobiology of Earth | William
Smith Washington University |
| 11:10 | Life Beyond Its Home Planet | Chris
McKay NASA Ames Research Center |
| 11:30 |
The Fourth Wave and Astrobiology: |
Alvin Toffler |
| 12:15 | Lunch | |
| Afternoon | ||
| 1:15 | Science Breakout Session Introduction | David Morrison |
| 1:30 | Science Breakout Sessions | |
| 3:30 | Break | |
| 3:45 | Resume Breakout Sessions | |
| 5:00 | Technology Challenges, Mission Opportunities | Lynn Harper |
| 6:00 | Poster
Session: Missions and Technologies for Astrobiology -wine and cheese - |
|
| Tuesday July 21, 1998 | ||
| Morning | ||
| 7:30 | Continental Breakfast | |
| 8:00 | Science Breakout session reports/discussion | Science Question Chairs |
| 10:30 | Break | |
| 10:45 | Panel
Discussion: Intra- and Interagency Cooperation and Challenges |
NASA HQ/Codes S, U, Y, M ONR/NRL, DARPA, NSF |
| 11:30 | Lunch Speaker: David Liddle, President, Interval Research "Multidisciplinary Research: Lessons from Interval Research" |
|
| Afternoon | ||
| 1:00 | Forming
the Roadmap and introduction to Missions and Technologies Breakout Sessions |
David Morrison |
| 1:20 | Missions and Technologies Breakout Sessions | |
| 3:15 | Break | |
| 3:30 | Continue Missions and Technologies Breakout Sessions | |
| 5:30 | Adjourn | |
| 7:00 | Dinner Speaker: Christopher McKay "A Travelogue" |
|
| Wednesday, July 22, 1998 | ||
| Morning | ||
| 7:30 | Continental Breakfast | |
| 8:30 | Missions and Technologies Breakout Session reports | |
| 10:00 | Break | |
| 10:15 | Continue Missions and Technologies Breakout Session reports | |
| 12:00 | Lunch Panel Discussion: "Education and Outreach: Getting the Astrobiology Message to the Public" |
|
| Afternoon | ||
| 1:00 | Roadmap synthesis | David Morrison |
| 1:30 | General Discussion | |
| 2:15 | Break | |
| 2:30 | The Astrobiology Roadmap: Panel Discussion | |
| 3:30 | Summary and Future Plans | David Morrison |
| 4:00 | Adjourn | |
Breakout Sessions Descriptions
Science
The science breakout sessions are oriented towards validating and expanding the draft set of science goals, objectives and requirements developed prior to the Astrobiology Roadmap Workshop. Six breakout groups will meet to address these goals, objectives and requirements for each of the six canonical questions of Astrobiology:
1. How do habitable worlds form and how do they evolve?
2. How did living systems emerge?
3. How can other biospheres be recognized?
4. How have the Earth and its biosphere influenced each other over time?
5. How do rapid changes in the environment affect emergent ecosystem properties and their evolution?
6. What is the potential for survival and biological evolution beyond the planet of origin?
Results from the Phase I breakout sessions will be presented at a plenary session on Tuesday morning, July 21, with 15 minutes for presentation and 10-15 minutes of discussion allocated per Astrobiology question. This plenary session will begin the synthesis of the Astrobiology questions.
Missions and Technologies
The Missions and Technologies breakout sessions have the goal of determining mission and technology concepts aimed at achieving the scientific goals and objectives of Astrobiology. Particular emphasis will be paid to potential near-term impacts on NASA's astronomy, planetary, Earth Sciences and Human Exploration and Development of Space missions. As such, there will be four breakout sessions organized along the following existing program lines:
1. Origins
2. Solar System Exploration
3. Earth Sciences
4. Human Exploration and Development of Space
Although focused to a large extent on impacts to near-term missions, the breakout sessions should nonetheless explore novel mission concepts, which may or may not fall along the traditional program lines delineated above.
The successful completion of phase II will result in a preliminary roadmap for Astrobiology, divided along the themes articulated above.
Results from the Missions and Technologies breakout sessions will be summarized at a three hour plenary session on Wednesday morning, July 22. A significant amount of group discussion time has been included to ensure incorporation of new ideas into the roadmap as well as maximizing group consensus.