NASA SP-500
January 1989
The results of science workshops held at NASA Ames Research Center

Preface

The Science Workshops on Exobiology in Earth Orbit were held to thoroughly explore all concepts for scientific experiments of exobiological interest to be carried out on any type of Earth-orbiting spacecraft over the next few decades and to make recommendations on which classes of experiments should be carried out.

The Workshops grew out of the realization that many new opportunities would become available to exobiology before the end of this century. Furthermore, three series of workshops redefining the scope of the field of exobiology had just concluded. (The results of these workshops are published in three NASA Special Publications, SP-476, SP-477, and SP-478, listed at the end of Chapter 1.)

It was thus an opportune time to connect the basic science objectives defined by these three efforts to the spaceflight missions that were being contemplated for the remainder of this century and that could be used to realize the science objectives. The primary focus was on missions sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA).

Necessarily, only those opportunities which were known at the time of the Workshop meetings were considered; subsequent missions were omitted not because of lack of interest, but rather because we were not aware of them. The January 1986 Challenger accident has led to uncertainty in the timetables for the various Earth-orbital missions discussed in this report, and in some cases to the vehicle that will be used to launch them. This must be kept in mind; while the basic scientific objectives and plans described in this report are still valid, the specifics of their implementation are subject to change.

The Workshops on Exobiology in Earth Orbit should be viewed as the second step of a three-part process, each step of which increases the number of people who are thinking about the role of Earth-orbital space missions in the field of exobiology.

The first step was a series of informal meetings held at NASA’s Ames Research Center during 1982-83 that included primarily Ames investigators. The Workshops on Exobiology in Earth Orbit, the second step of the process, was composed of about 40 scientists from around the world, including astronomers, chemists, biologists, and geologists; the recommendations for experiments, summarized in Chapter 6, represent the consensus opinion of this particular group of experts.

The third step in the process begins with the distribution of this report. All interested scientists can now consider the classes of experiments recommended by the Workshops, discuss their merits, and formulate their own ideas for experiments to be carried out in Earth orbit. The recommendations of these Workshops should not be viewed as final, but rather as a starting point for further discussions within the general scientific community. If exobiologists are inspired to give serious consideration to performing experiments in Earth orbit, and if nonexobiologists are inspired to look at their work from a new point of view, then these Workshops will have succeeded.

The scientists who provided their time and expertise, attended the meetings, discussed the ideas, and who did the thinking, the writing, and the rewriting are listed at the end of this Preface. It is they who are responsible for the content of this report. The chairpersons of the Workshops were Harold P. Klein from Santa Clara University and William M. Irvine from the University of Massachusetts. Three science working groups were formed -reflecting the basic nature of exobiological investigation, which includes observation, collection, and simulation.

These were led by Jill Tarter from the University of California at Berkeley and the SETI Institute (Observational Exobiology), Don Brownlee of the University of Washington (Cosmic Dust Collection), and David Usher from Cornell University {In Situ Experiments). John Billingham of NASA Ames provided the principal liaison between the Workshops and the Ames Research Center. The Workshops members benefited from many experts who came to the meetings and gave tutorials on specific aspects of Exobiology in Earth Orbit. They are:

  • Roger Arno, NASA Ames Research Center (spacecraft opportunities)
  • Martin Barmatz, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (containerless processing)
  • Peter Banks, Stanford University (Space Station)
  • Bill Berry, NASA Ames Research Center (spacecraft opportunities)
  • Don Brownlee, University of Washington (cosmic dust)
  • Ted Bunch, NASA Ames Research Center (cosmic dust collection)
  • Graham Cairnes-Smith, Glasgow University (origin of life)
  • Sherwood Chang, NASA Ames Research Center (cosmic history of the biogenic elements and compounds)
  • Martin Cohen, University of California at Berkeley (proto-planetary systems)
  • Robert Davies, University of Pennsylvania (panspermia)
  • Don DeVincenzi, NASA Headquarters (exobiology)
  • Mike Duke, NASA Johnson Space Center (lunar bases)
  • Mayo Greenberg, University of Leiden (bacterial survival in grains)
  • Gerda Horneck, Institut fur Flugmedizen, Koln, West Germany (microbial survival in space; ESA activities)
  • William Kinard, NASA Langley Research Center (Long-Duration Exposure Facility)
  • Michael Lampton, University of California at Berkeley (the space environment)
  • Joseph Nuth, NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center (small-particle nucleation) Jeff Scargle, NASA Ames Research Center (planetary detection)
  • Jill Tarter, University of California at Berkeley and SETI Institute (observational opportunities)
  • Chandra Wickramasinghe, University College, Cardiff (panspermia)

We arc indebted to all of these people for their time and effort. Additional thanks arc due to Bill Berry and Mike Duke who contributed written summaries of their tutorials that are included in Chapter 2 of this report. The many logistical details that go along with running meetings which exceed 50 attendees, all of whom need to be housed, fed, reimbursed, and aided in a myriad of ways, were efficiently handled by Wanda Davis from the Molecular Research Institute. We also owe special thanks to Vera Buescher and Elyse Murray of the SETI Institute who provided invaluable assistance. Finally, we thank Guy Fogelman of RCA Government Services for reading the full manuscript.

Doug DeFrees
Molecular Research Institute

Astrobiology

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp...