NASA Astrobiology Research Needs Your Support

Editor’s note: the following white paper has been circulated by leaders of the Astrobiology community in March 2025. Please read through it and consider signing so as to add your support to this immensely important multi-disciplinary, multi-national research – research that plays an increasingly important role in they ways in which we explore – and understand – our living universe.

We are reaching out to request your support in endorsing the attached document, “Protect Astrobiology,” which outlines the critical need to safeguard NASA’s astrobiology research amid potential workforce and funding reductions.
 
As you know, astrobiology is central to NASA’s mission and scientific legacy. With upcoming transformative missions—including Mars Sample Return, Europa Clipper, Dragonfly, and the Habitable Worlds Observatory—now is not the time to weaken our capacity in this field. Reductions in workforce and research funding risk delaying key discoveries and diminishing U.S. leadership in space exploration.
 
Your endorsement would send a strong message about the importance of maintaining astrobiology as a priority for NASA. Please review the attached document and consider lending your support using the link provided at the end of the document. Feel free to forward this message to other researchers in your network.   

A list of endorsements of this document can be found here – please consider signing it.

Protect NASA Astrobiology Research

• Preserve Astrobiology Leadership: Astrobiology is a pillar of NASA’s mission with a storied legacy that must be safeguarded.
• Unprecedented Discoveries Ahead: Mars, Ocean Worlds, and exoplanet missions in the coming decades could finally answer one of humanity’s most profound questions: “are we alone?
• Public Passion and Impact: The public passionately supports the search for life – a pursuit that inspires, unites, and advances STEM engagement.
• NASA’s Unique Role: NASA’s unique capabilities and infrastructure position it as a leader in astrobiology, working in collaboration with U.S. academia and industry to advance this field.
• Preserve Astrobiology at Its Peak: Astrobiology is thriving; workforce and research funding reductions must not derail our best chance to find life beyond Earth.

Astrobiology: A Core NASA Legacy

NASA has championed astrobiology for decades as a core part of its science mission, helping cement the Agency’s reputation for tackling the profound question of life beyond Earth. In 1998, NASA further underscored its commitment by founding the NASA Astrobiology Institute at Ames Research Center – led by Nobel Laureate Dr. Baruch Blumberg – to coordinate astrobiology research. From probing Earth’s extreme life forms to developing instruments that sniff out organic molecules on other worlds, NASA’s astrobiology program has been integral to its scientific leadership.

Congress has recognized this role, and support for astrobiology has only grown over time. NASA’s Transition Authorization Act of 2017 explicitly included “the search for life’s origin, evolution, distribution, and future in the universe” as one of NASA’s 10 statutory purposes. This legislative mandate reinforces that astrobiology is not an auxiliary field but a fundamental priority of the Agency. Additionally, astrobiology has positioned the U.S. as a global leader, shaping space policies in other nations and fostering international collaborations. This is a leadership role that must be preserved.

Unprecedented Opportunities in the Coming Decades

We must ensure NASA’s workforce and expertise in astrobiology are intact to design, execute, and fully capitalize on these missions. Curtailing this momentum due to short-term staffing targets would be a grave mistake, one that could set back science for years and squander the investments already made.

Public Enthusiasm and Societal Impact

Few endeavors in science capture the public’s imagination like the search for life on other worlds. Astrobiology combines deep scientific significance with broad public appeal. It consistently ranks among the most compelling storylines in NASA’s portfolio – from the excitement over Mars rover discoveries to worldwide fascination with exoplanets. A National Academies report explicitly noted that the quest to find life “provides a scientific rationale for many current and future activities at NASA, precisely because it combines inherent scientific interest and public appeal”. The American public wants NASA to advancenot retreatin its search for life.

Beyond inspiration, astrobiology has generated technological advancements with direct societal benefits. Instrumentation and methodologies developed for detecting life in extreme environments have contributed to breakthroughs in material science, environmental monitoring, and medical diagnostics. Technology behind rapid COVID-19 test kits, ultra-sensitive laboratory analysis protocols, and even counterfeit drug and art forgery detection can trace their origins to astrobiology-related research.

A strong astrobiology program supports U.S. innovation, workforce development, and global competitiveness in advanced technology sectors. The same expertise that drives astrobiology missions also fuels advancements in biotechnology, materials science, and planetary defense, ensuring that the U.S. remains at the forefront of scientific and technological progress.

NASA’s Unique Leadership Role in Astrobiology

NASA, with its combined scientific and engineering might, is in a unique position to lead astrobiology’s grand endeavors, in partnership with academia and industry. Landing a rover on Mars equipped to detect ancient microbes, or sending an orbiter to an icy moon with a cryobot to probe an alien ocean, requires NASA’s extraordinary technical infrastructure, project management experience, and cross-disciplinary teams of engineers and astrobiologists.

Without NASA’s scientific excellence and technical leadership in the design of life-detection instruments and their integration into spacecraft, we risk ceding this scientific frontier to chance. Workforce and funding reductions in critical areas of astrobiology could disrupt mission timelines, increase costs, and result in a loss of specialized expertise that may take decades to rebuild.

By leading these efforts, NASA not only secures scientific breakthroughs but also maintains U.S. leadership in space exploration, enabling U.S. universities and international partners to participate in discoveries that only a NASA-led mission can secure. Protecting NASA’s astrobiology workforce and competed research funding programs is essential to sustaining the global astrobiology enterprise.

Shield Astrobiology from Workforce and Research Funding Reductions

As NASA navigates the administration’s government-wide workforce optimization initiative, it is vital that we do not undermine astrobiology research – a field at the very heart of our agency’s purpose and future. Acting leadership has rightly stated that any reductions must align with mission needs. Few needs are more central to NASA’s science mission than understanding life’s existence beyond Earth.

Even in a time of difficult adjustments, we can prioritize and preserve key teams so as not to “compromise the agency’s ability to carry out Congressionally authorized activities. Protecting astrobiology is standing up for NASA’s long-term mission. NASA should champion its astrobiology programs as model efforts that deliver efficient, high-impact science aligned with national interests.

In summary, we urge you to make the protection of NASA’s astrobiology research enterprise a top priority during this workforce restructuring. The dividends – scientifically, socially, and historically – are simply too great to jeopardize. Together, let’s affirm NASA’s commitment to exploring life’s possibilities in the universe and keep this inspiring endeavor at the forefront of our journey.

Embrace the Challenge, Protect the Mission.

A list of endorsements of this document can be found here – please consider signing it.