NASA Astrobiology Institute

Although NASA had explored the idea of forming an astrobiology institute in the past, when the Viking biological experiments returned negative results for life on Mars, the public lost interest and federal funds for exobiology dried up. In 1996, the announcement of possible traces of ancient life in the Allan Hills 84001 meteorite from Mars led to new interest in the subject. At the same time, NASA developed the Origins Program, broadening its reach from exobiology to astrobiology, the study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe.[1]

In 1998, $9 million was set aside to fund the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI), an interdisciplinary research effort using the expertise of different scientific research institutions and universities from across the country, centrally linked to Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. Gerald Soffen former Project Scientist with the Viking program, helped coordinate the new institute.[1] In May,[5] NASA selected eleven science teams, each with a Principal Investigator (PI).[6] NAI was established in July with Scott Hubbard as interim Director.[5] Nobel laureate Baruch S. Blumberg was appointed the first Director of the institute, and served from May 15, 1999 – October 14, 2002.[7]

The NASA Astrobiology Program includes the NAI as one of four components, including the Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology Program; the Astrobiology Science and Technology Instrument Development (ASTID) Program; and the Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets (ASTEP) Program.[2] Program budgets for fiscal year 2008 were as follows: NAI, $16 million; Grants for the Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology Program, $11 million; ASTID, $9 million; ASTEP, $5 million.[5]

Joint Russian-NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) expedition studying microbial life in extreme environments in the crater of Mutnovsky Volcano in Kamchatka, far east Russia.

As of 2018, the NAI has 10 teams including about 600 researchers distributed across ~100 institutions. It also has 13 international partner organizations. Some past and present teams are:[8][9]

Selected, significant topics of interdisciplinary research by NAI as of 2008:[5]

• Comets in space and in the laboratory
• Discovery of the "rare biosphere"
• Early habitability of Earth
• Early wet Mars
• Exoplanet discovery and analysis
• Life without the Sun
• Metal isotope tracers of environment and biology
• Methane on Mars
• Microbial mat ecology
• Modeling exoplanet biospheres
• Origins of life
• Snowball Earth
• Sub-seafloor life
• The rise of oxygen and Earth's "middle age"

• Biever, Celeste (2003-07-05). "After a decade in the cold, SETI gets money from NASA". New Scientist. Reed Business Information Ltd. 179 (2402): 8. ISSN 0262-4079. NASA Astrobiology Institute awarded the SETI Institute $5 million spread over five years for 10 projects, including one that feeds directly into the search for intelligent life. This project aims to target specific solar systems that are likely to support life, and will use telescopes to screen a type of star called an M-star
• Dick, Steven J. (2005). The Living Universe: NASA and the Development of Astrobiology. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-3733-7.
• Grymes, Rosalind A. (Jan–Feb 2002). "The NASA Astrobiology Institute: Reaching Within and Beyond". Ad Astra. National Space Society. 14 (1): 12. ISSN 1041-102X.
• Lawler, Andrew (2007-01-19). "Astrobiology Fights for Its Life". Science. American Association for the Advancement of Science. 315 (5810): 318–321. doi:10.1126/science.315.5810.318. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 17234924. S2CID 154227924.
• Mecham, Michael (1999-06-14). "Astrobiology team taking shape at Ames". Aviation Week & Space Technology. McGraw-Hill. 150 (24): 211. ISSN 0005-2175.
• Sawyer, Kathy (1999). "Out of the Lab, And This World; Hands-On Nobel Laureate to Lead NASA Agency Studying Life's Origins". The Washington Post. p. A17.