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Unsolved Mysteries - Key Questions in Astrobiology
The original Astrobiology Workshop, held at NASA Ames Research Center in September 1996 with extensive participation of leading scientists from across the nation, broadly defined the scope of Astrobiology and articulated a set of six key scientific questions to define this new scientific discipline:
• How do habitable worlds form and how do they evolve?
• How did living systems emerge?
• How can other biospheres be recognized?
• How have the Earth and its biosphere influenced each other over time?
• How do rapid changes in the environment affect emergent ecosystem properties?
• What is the potential for survival and biological evolution beyond the planet of origin?
Since these questions were posed, a series of follow-on workshops were convened to explore some of these issues in depth.
When recent discoveries about limits of life, the frequency and characteristics of extraterrestrial planets, factors affecting ecosystem evolution, and adaptability of terrestrial life in space
are coupled with. . .
Extraordinary advances available and projected technologies such as space technology, remote sensing, molecular biology, imaging, biotechnology, materials, sensors, computers, information processing
and. . .
Planned and possible new mission opportunities. . .
Fundamental questions about life in the universe may now be answered.