ASTROBIOLOGY
Volume 11, Number 1, 2011
ª Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
DOI: 10.1089/ast.2010.1122
The Next Phase in Our Search for Life: An Expert Discussion
Moderator: Christopher P. McKay
1 Participants: Dirk Schulze-Makuch, 2 Penelope Jane Boston, 3 Inge L. ten Kate, 4 Alfonso F. Davila, 5 and Everett Shock 6
This roundtable discussion was convened to discuss the ongoing planning process in planetary sciences and its relationship to Astrobiology goals. The participants were selected to represent a range of interests and backgrounds in Astrobiology and all of them have been involved in planetary missions and the use of data from planetary missions. Three questions were sent to the panel before the roundtable discussion to provide a context of initiating the discussion. These questions were:
1. What would list as the most important opportunity for Astrobiology in planetary missions in the next decade?
2. What is the right balance between directly searching for life and investigations that focus on the physical environment
providing a context for life? Does the current program strike the right balance?
3. The Decadal Survey process mirrors the organizational structure of NASA Headquarters (HQ). Hence, Astrobiology is included in the Planetary Decadal Survey because Astrobiology is programmatically part of the Planetary program at NASA HQ. Is this the right approach? What are other possible approaches? Does the Astrobiology Roadmap (promulgated by the NASA Astrobiology Institute) provide an important alternative? How effectively do these two processes capture real community input?
