# Presentation: 090144

## NAI Collaborative Science Planning

- Bruce Runnegar
- NAI Executive Council
- Boulder, Colorado, April 14, 2005

## Goals of this discussion

- To see if we are all on the same page
- To agree upon a plan for future action
- To develop a document that describes the plan and the courses of action proposed
- To be able to refer to the plan in support of research proposals from NAI members to funding agencies including NASA
- To demonstrate the value of the Institute to NASA, to the scientific community, and to the public at large
- And to increase our ability to do novel, cutting-edge research in astrobiology

## TERRESTRIAL TO ASTRONOMICAL BIOSIGNATURES (TABS)

**DISKOCHEMISTRY**

**SUBSURFACE LIFE**

**EARLY EARTH**

## NAI Collaborative Science Plan (1)

- NAI teams advance astrobiology by carrying out and diversifying the research goals described in their Cooperative Agreement proposals and the NASA Astrobiology Roadmap
- The NAI’s Collaborative Science Plan (CSP) is aimed at identifying and nurturing cross-team collaborations within areas of astrobiological importance, especially those that contribute to the science and technology of NASA missions. Those identified at an NAI-wide retreat in 2003, following a major competitive renewal of most of the Institute, are:
- Astronomy and cosmochemistry of protoplanetary disks
- Life in subsurface and extreme environments
- Precambrian evolution of the Earth System

## NAI Collaborative Science Plan (2)

- Subsequent discussions have identified two other potential areas of interest and one significant cross-cutting theme
- Extraterrestrial impacts and the evolution of life
- Prebiotic chemistry and the nature and origin of life
- TERRESTRIAL TO ASTRONOMICAL BIOSIGNATURES
- Each of these six suggested focus areas leads directly into future flight mission planning and design by aiming to understand conditions that could support extraterrestrial life (habitability), to propose criteria for in situ life detection and characterization, and to develop and define atmospheric biosignatures that may be observed remotely using space observatories such as TPF

## NAI Collaborative Science Plan (3)

- Implementing the CSP is an evolving process. Traditionally, NAI Focus Groups have provided a forum for community-wide involvement in topical areas of astrobiology: ASTROBIOTECHNOLOGY, Astromaterials, ASTRONOMY, EARLY EARTH, Ecological Genomics, EVOLUTIONARY GENOMICS, EUROPA, IMPACTS, Mars, TITAN, SCIENCE COMMUNICATIONS, and VIRUS (current FGs in CAPS)
- Focus Groups have been instrumental in seeding cross-team collaborations (e.g., ADP), in providing input into mission concepts (e.g., MERs), and in developing novel astrobiological networks (e.g., Astrobiotechnology)

## NAI Collaborative Science Plan (4)

- Current implementation of the CSP is following three threads:
- Focus Groups proposed by individuals and chartered for (typically) three year terms.
- CSP-based activities that are related to primary goals identified by the planning process and, ideally, develop from concept through workshops to funded projects.
- “Tiger Teams” that are commissioned for a task at hand, typically to provide advice (e.g., to MEPAG), to stimulate competitive community-wide collaborations (e.g., for ROSES-IES), and to develop long-range scientific plans for mission concepts (e.g., MSR, TPF).

## NAI Collaborative Science Plan (5)

- Examples of each of the three CSP threads:
- The Astrobiology Drilling Program (ADP) evolved from the former Mission to Early Earth Focus Group. The ADP is an international effort involving astrobiologists from Australia, Japan, and the United States. It has been supported by NASA, NSF, and Japanese and Australian institutions. The focus, so far, has been on biosignatures of the early Earth.
- Collaboration between astronomers and cosmochemists within the NAI has led to the formation of the Astronomy Focus Group which explores and advocates astrobiology in the context of astronomical missions. In parallel, a CSP-derived group is organizing workshops aimed at indentifying key questions that would benefit from intensified multidisciplinary research.
- Three recent reports of the detection of atmospheric methane have potentially opened a new astrobiological window on Mars. The NAI is holding a series of increasingly more inclusive discussions that are aimed at finding ways to confirm the discovery and explore its implications. These distributed seminars/workshops also allow the NAI to further explore ways to communicate and collaborate remotely.

## NAI Collaborative Science Plan (6)

- The NAI’s Collaborative Science Plan feeds naturally into NASA’s Vision for Space Exploration in the following ways;
- CSP’s cross-cutting theme, summarized as “Terrestrial to Astronomical Biosignatures’ (TABS), draws together studies of early Earth and early Mars, origins of life investigations, the exploration of life in subsurface and extreme environments, results from decades of observations of Earth from space, and the exciting new knowledge about extrasolar planets into one NAI-wide objective: To find life there.
- Its focus on subsurface life and life in extreme environments, such as Arctic and Antarctic permafrosts, requires extraordinary expertise in detecting, extracting, and characterizing sparse microbial populations under the most rigorous clean-room conditions. Thus, NAI astrobiologists are able to make substantial contributions in the areas of planetary protection, sample return protocols, and (possibly) human habitability.

## NAI Focus Groups

- Astrobiotechnology - Bruce Jakosky (CUB), Greg Bearman (JPL), and Andrew Steele (CIW)
- Astronomy - Sara Seager (CIW)
- Early Earth - Ariel Anbar (UW) and Stephen Mojzsis (CUB)
- Europa - Ronald Greeley
- Evolutionary Genomics - Blair Hedges (PSU) and James Lake (UCLA)
- Impacts - Frank Kyte (UCLA) and Peter Ward (UW)
- Mars - Jesús Martínez Frías (CAB) and VACANT
- Titan - Jonathan Lunine (UA) and (possibly) Ralph Lorenz (UA)
- Virus - Baruch Blumberg (ARC) and Ken Stedman

## Future Group Activities

- Diskochemistry workshop in conjunction with “Protostars and Planets”, Hawaii, October, 2005
- Impacts FG is encouraged to run next Snowbird Conference, this time on the P-T boundary?
- Mars Focus group should be rejuvenated through planned targeted workshop activities
- Overarching CSP theme - “Terrestrial to Astronomical Biosignatures” can involve membership of Astronomy and Early Earth FGs in its workshops
- Europa FG is alive but dormant. Needs some stimulation from NAI members
- And a suggested new focus activity - ENVIRONMENTAL GENOMICS, possibly led by the UCB, MSU, and IPTAI teams?

## Restructuring the Mars Focus Group 

- A number of targeted workgroups focused on topics of astrobiological importance in the context of Mars exploration leading to an integrated approach to providing advice to NASA via MEPAG
- METHANE ON MARS (MOM) - a developing series of workshops being organized by Mark Allen (VPL), James Lyons (UCLA), Michael Mumma (GSFC), and Bruce Runnegar (NAIC)
- Other proposed action items are:- The astrobiology of Mars Sample Return (David Beaty, JPL)- A prioritized set of Mars landing sites for future astrobiological missions (David McKay, JSC)- Exploration and development of Mars analog sites on Earth (Jesús Martínez Frías, CAB)

## Terrestrial to Astronomical Biosignatures 

- Terrestrial to Astronomical Biosignatures (TABS) is the cross-cutting theme that unites all six CSP focus areas. It is being developed by bringing the geoscience and astronomical communities together in a series of workshops that will establish new research directions and provide advice to NASA through groups such as the TPF-C S&TDT and MEPAG. Tentatively planned activities include:
- An NAI workshop “Towards Pale Blue Dot 3” during the Fall of 2005 organized by Victoria Meadows (VPL) and Neville Woolf (UA)
- Pale Blue Dot 3, a successor to the highly successful Pale Blue Dot 2, organized by David Des Marais (ARC) at NASA Ames

## ROSES IES and other AOs 

- NAI can facilitate competitive new proposals in the following ways:
- By introducing potential partners in a neutral setting
- By organizing topical seminars and workshops on relevant scientific and technical problems
- By providing information (e.g., NAI’s webcasting of the Preproposal Conference for the Interdisciplinary Exploration Science component of the Science Mission Directorate's "Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES)" on Monday, April 19th from 8:30am-12:00pm)
- By providing accompanying letters which explain how the proposed research relates to the Institute’s charter and its Collaborative Science Plan
- By advocating the NAI’s Collaborative Science Plan to NASA and the NASA-associated communities (astronomy, astrobiology, planetary science, etc.).

## Planning within the SMD 

- NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is currently planning its future and defining its relationship to the other mission directorates. Some of the steps are summarized here:
- The first drafts of NASA’s 13 Strategic Roadmaps* are due on April 15. The plan is to forward the roadmaps to the NRC for review by June 1
- The SMD AA, Al Diaz, is conscious of the pervasive importance of astrobiology to NASA’s vision and is looking within it for some overarching themes that will unite the strategic plans and provide the rationale for flagship flight missions
- The NAI can contribute to this effort through its collaborative science planning discussions and work with other bodies to achieve the main goal. However, this needs to be done swiftly, perhaps within the window April-June.
- 	*http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/apio/roadmap_committees.htm

## Working with International Partners 

- NAI needs to build collaborative activities with our international associates and affiliates into its CSP:
- Although there are many team-to-partner collaborative activities, there is much to be gained by exploring other kinds of relationships
- The Astrobiology Drilling Program is one such effort, although it principally involves organizations other than those formally linked to the NAI
- The summer schools in astrobiology* which the NAI and the CAB jointly organize in Spain each year are more than an educational exercise. The goal is for them to stimulate future collaborations, especially at the postdoctoral level.
- 	*http://nai.nasa.gov/UIMP/Titan

## Advocacy via the Media 

- There are three ways NAI Central can help you get your best research results showcased and, at the same time, provide visibility for the NAI:
- A NASA Space Science Update, traditionally a panel presentation to reporters at NASA Headquarters, but recently also done by means of a scheduled conference call. Space Science Updates require AT LEAST three weeks lead time and a HEADLINE that is of wide public interest.
- A press release distributed by NASA HQ via email*.
- A story on the NEWLY REDISIGNED NAI website, normally courtesy of David Morrison, who uses your institution’s press release, an embargoed copy of the accepted article, and his own research to put a story together so that it can be released on the day that the article is published.
- To achieve any of these forms of publicity, we need your help and your attention!               *NASAnews@hq.nasa.gov

## Keeping the NAI in business

***– ******List the NAI as and address:***
*Francis Crick**1,2** and Charles Darwin**1,3*
*1** NASA Astrobiology Institute, Cambridge, England*
*2**Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, England*
*1 **NASA Astrobiology Institute, Kent, U.K.*
*3 **Down House, Kent, U.K.*
***– ******Acknowledge the funding source:***
*Funding was provided by the Zeta Foundation and ****through membership in the NASA Astrobiology Institute****.*
*    *

***Keeping the NAI in business***